


Captured

by snurgle



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Cielois - Freeform, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Kidnapping, Lime, M/M, Object Insertion, Smut, Victorian, Yandere, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 01:50:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2173536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snurgle/pseuds/snurgle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All he wanted was Ciel. And Alois Trancy was never one to give up what he wanted. However, there was only way that he knew how to get him. And it would not be easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was an average morning at the Trancy estate.

And by average, Alois Trancy meant hideously dreary.

He was lying sprawled on the floor of his bedroom once again. He'd been there for longer than he cared to remember. Normally he would be sleeping. And yet, he hadn't been able to for ages. He wasn't sure how many times he found himself like this. It must have been the fifth time in the past few days. It was unfitting, an aristocrat like himself lying about and lamenting like this.

And yet he was.

Alois stared up at the ceiling and sighed. He had failed. Failed not just once, but multiple times in a single week. He could not believe his own stupidity. His plan had been foolproof. At least that was what he thought. It was what he always thought, and it was never true.

The ball had been a massive waste of money, and it had not even proven effective.

He had been so sure that he could capture him there. Trap him, corner him in a place he could never escape, and force him to say yes. He didn't care about his own life. That was why he had signed it away to a demon. The only way to his heart was to threaten the few people he cared about. Alois had been so close. So close he could practically taste it. And then... then he'd just slipped away.

Damn that Ciel Phantomhive. Damn him and his bloody demonic butler.

A terse knock at the door shook Alois from his gloomy thoughts. His eyes flickered in the direction of the door. The knock sounded again. Alois quickly pushed himself up off the floor and straightened out his nightshirt, then crawled back under the plush velvet covers of his bed. "I'm awake," he groaned, trying to sound as if he hadn't been so for hours.

The latch of the door clicked softly in the spacious, quiet bedroom. The door swung gently open and a pale, spectacled face peered through. "As I had expected, your highness," a smooth, level voice said.

"Claude," Alois mumbled incoherently. He rubbed at his eyes as if they had been blinded by sleep instead of staring blankly at the ceiling. "Is it that late already, that you had to come and wake me up?"

"Nearly ten in the morning, your highness," Claude responded indifferently. He strode over to the window and pulled back the curtains. Sunlight streamed into the room. Alois threw an arm over his eyes and snarled, burying himself back under the blankets. A split second later he felt a cool, nimble hand by his face. It tightened around the blankets and pulled them back. The young earl groaned and scrubbed at his eyes again before feigning a yawn.

Suddenly the hand moved from the blankets to his cheek. It was soon joined by another. Alois opened his icy blue eyes to see his butler looking down at him, a look of concern on his face.

"Oh stop that, would you? It's no use pretending. I already know you weren't asleep."

Alois sneered. "Unhand me."

Claude obediently drew his hands back and took a step away from the bed. Alois pushed the covers away from his legs and sat upright, shoulders slumped in defeat. Claude cocked his head to the side. "What seems to be the matter, your highness?"

Alois looked defensively away and muttered something unintelligible. His butler raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, your highness?"

"I- It's that bloody Phantomhive!" Alois roared, lunging towards Claude. The demon made no move to back away. Alois didn't make it very far. His legs tangled in the covers and he collapsed to his hands and knees halfway to the edge of the bed. He looked pitifully up at his butler. "That's what it is. Is that what you wanted to hear? Are you happy now, Claude?"

"My happiness is none of your concern," Claude said placidly. "But yours is very much mine."

"True, true," Alois mumbled, sitting back against the pillows. "It's not important, Claude. I can sort this out on my own."

"Are you quite sure, your hi-"

"YES, I AM SURE, CLAUDE! NOW WILL YOU DROP THE ISSUE?"

Claude's eyes widened. The Trancy butler took a step back. "My apologies, your highness. Have I somehow aggravated the situation?"

"No," Alois said, running a hand through his pale, tangled hair. "The situation is no more aggravated than it was before."

"Very well, then."

A moment passed in silence. "Claude," Alois said quietly.

"Yes, your highness?"

Alois crawled towards the edge of the bed. "Come here."

The demon obeyed, venturing a few steps closer to his master. "Sit," Alois commanded, smoothing the velvet cover beside him. Claude followed his orders and settled down on the plush comforter.

In seconds, Alois had latched himself onto Claude's arm and thrown his legs across his lap. He leaned his head onto his butler's shoulder. "Claude?"

"Yes, your highness?"

"Do you... do you love me?"

Claude's eyes widened. Alois wasn't surprised. He hardly ever used this pathetic tone of voice with anyone. "What?" his butler asked, his voice hushed.

"It's a simple question, Claude," the earl said, leaning back to look his butler in the eye. "Do you?"

"I-" Claude stuttered. His hands tightened on the velvet blanket. "I am your loyal servant, your highness," he answered ambiguously. "I am here, always, until your dying day."

Alois sighed. His hands clutched at the lapels of Claude's jacket and he buried his face in his shoulder again. "Do you think anyone loves me?" he asked, his voice barely even a whisper.

"Why would you ask me such a question?" Claude asked softly, placing an arm around his master.

"I just... I wonder sometimes." Alois brushed his face against the side of Claude's neck.

Claude took a hesitant breath. "Are you willing to tell me what has so distraught now, your highness?"

Alois nuzzled against the curve of Claude's neck. "Yes," he murmured into his butler's skin.

Claude slipped a gentle hand under his master's chin, lifting his face to examine it. Alois's eyes had gone wide and glassy. "Is it anything of my doing, your highness?"

"No, it isn't you, Claude, it's..." Alois trailed off, dropping his gaze to the floor.

"It's...?"

"The ball," Alois said, his voice barely above a whisper. "It- it was all a waste."

Claude sighed. "Your highness, that is all in the past. You-

"It was three days ago! What kind of past is that, Claude?" Alois had fastened his delicate hands onto his butler's shoulders. His fingers were shaking. "I failed. My plan failed. I'd had everything in place. It was all perfect. It would have been, if it weren't for... for..."

Claude rubbed his hand comfortingly over his master's back. "Your highness..."

"That bloody butler of his. It's all that blasted Sebastian's fault!" Alois shrieked, his voice catching in his throat once or twice. He finally met his butler's eyes. "We would have had him. Ciel Phantomhive would have been ours. Ciel Phantomhive would have... H-he would have..."

Alois could barely breathe. His voice cracked and he went silent. Tears were rolling over his cheeks in hot, painful streams. Claude gently wiped them away. "He would have been yours," he said.

That was what finally broke Alois.

"I-I was so close!" he cried, choking to hold back his tears. "I was so close to finally having him here and I failed! I've failed everything! He- he wouldn't even accept the invitation I gave him yesterday! He just tore it up! He tore it up right in front of me!" Alois buried his face into Claude's shoulder again, his small body racked with sobs.

"Why does this always happen to me, Claude?" he whimpered. "Why is it that... that every time I find something... something I love it just- just..."

Claude slid his arms around his master. Alois pressed himself close his butler, tears streaming down his face and staining the demon's satin vest. He cried into the front of his shirt, clinging helplessly to the fabric. Claude didn't say a word. There was never anything to say when Alois got like this.

After a few minutes the Trancy heir finally let go. He pulled himself away from Claude and swiped at the warm, salty stains on his face. Claude cupped his master's pale, tearstained cheek with a gloved hand. "Your highness," he said coolly, "you will survive this. You must simply-"

"No," Alois said, his voice sharp and cold. He sniffed and looked away, a bitter expression on his face. "I don't need your patronizing, Claude. I- I need..."

A furtive smile flickered on Claude's face. "You need him?"

Alois nodded, scrubbing at his face again. "I need him," he repeated.

Claude lifted Alois from his lap and placed him back down on the bed. The earl listlessly complied, too exhausted to protest, though he was still clinging to the front of Claude's shirt. The butler stood up and leaned over his little master, reaching out a hand to stroke his soft blonde hair. "What shall you have me do, your highness?"

"There is nothing you can do, Claude," Alois murmured, his voice lifeless. He pressed his head against Claude's palm. "I can't make him feel anything for me. And as long as he has that blasted Sebastian with him, I can never..."

Alois trailed off. His eyes widened, staring straight ahead at his hands clasped around the folds of Claude's shirt.  _Sebastian_ , he repeated in his mind.  _Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian._

That was it. That was the problem. Ciel always had his butler with him. Him and that Michaelis man did practically everything together. Always at Ciel's side. Always defending him, keeping away those his master deemed undesirable.  _That must include me, then,_ he thought.

Alois's lips formed his name, whispering it noiselessly over and over.  _Sebastian. Sebastian._

Ciel. Ciel was the one he wanted. And Sebastian was the only thing in his way. As long as he was there, Ciel would never be his. Yet, if he could somehow remove him from the equation, even if for just a few hours or so...

It would not be easy. Demon servants were never meant to leave their masters. And he and Ciel were practically attached at the hip. Or hand and eye, to be exact. And he would follow his every command. As long as the demonic seal was embedded in Ciel's iris, Alois would be at Sebastian's mercy. He could sweep him from the face of the Earth if he wished. And yet...

Alois laughed to himself. Ciel wasn't the only one with a demon butler.

He swept a few strands of platinum hair aside and wiped the last few traces of tears from his face. The earl looked up at his butler standing before him, his ever-loyal servant, just as servile to him as Sebastian to Ciel. A faint smile flickered on Alois's face. "Claude?"

"Yes, your highness?" Claude answered.

"I was wrong," Alois said softly. "There is something you can do."

"And that is, your highness?"

Alois fixed his gaze on his loyal butler. "Get me dressed and gather the other servants here in approximately thirty minutes. I have a plan."

The smile tugged at the corners of Alois's mouth again. This time it stayed.

* * *

 

London was no less dreary in the afternoon than in the morning. Especially to Ciel Phantomhive.

The young heir was on his afternoon stroll through the city, his butler following closely behind, as he was every moment of the young Phantomhive's life. The two of them traveled together through the lively-yet-unlively streets of London. Ciel gazed contemplatively at the shop windows as they passed by, searching. There had to be something, or at the very least someone who would be selling something worthwhile to be bought.

This was an especially important trip they were taking this afternoon. The date had been pounded into his head by his fiance more times than he cared to admit. She had taken care to remind him with a letter delivered by hand to his estate every week for the past month. There was no conceivable way that Elizabeth would let him forget her birthday.

It was even less likely that she would let him forget to buy her a present. Of course, she had not told him exactly what it was that she had wanted. She had continually played coy with him, dropping all sorts of obscure hints that he was expected to somehow pick up on, which, of course, he hadn't. So he had resolved to simply search around the shops of London until he found something that he thought might be at least close to what it was that she had wanted.

Sebastian slowed his pace for a moment to gaze at the strategically lighted windows of a fancy little dress shop. In the window, draped artfully over a white linen mannequin, was a frilly pink gown with a skirt that reminded Ciel vaguely of an over-decorated birthday cake.

"What would the young lady think of this one, my lord?" Sebastian asked thoughtfully.

Ciel glanced at the dress and shivered. "It reminds me too much of what I wore when we attended that disastrous party with that Lord Druitt prick."

Sebastian looked down, eyebrows raised at his young master's language. "I'll interpret that as, 'I don't think it's quite what Elizabeth had in mind.' Very well, my lord. Shall we continue on?"

The young lord gave an exasperated sigh. "Is there even a point anymore, Sebastian? We have been walking for hours. If only Elizabeth had been just a touch less vague with her hints, I might have actually..." The rest of the sentence faded off into disgruntled mumbling.

The two went on walking, glancing from window to window, stopping here and there and never finding exactly what it was that Elizabeth had wanted so badly. Ciel was growing frustrated. He wished his fiance weren't like this all the time. She thought she was being cute, acting all mysterious and almost telling Ciel what she wanted but never actually giving it away. If he didn't guess correctly, he was sure that Elizabeth would slap the skin from his face, then proceed to run off crying while his freshly de-lidded eyes watched, helpless to do anything but stare after her and wait until she calmed down. Perhaps he could ask Sebastian if would be able to somehow re-attach his face after he successfully bought Elizabeth the wrong gift.

A bright flash of light sparkled in the corner of Ciel's vision. He slowed down for a brief second to turn towards the source. He immediately wished he hadn't, then shortly afterward was glad that he did.

It was a store that they must have passed by at least six times before. The lights of the display window had simply not been turned on, and he had not noticed the shop when he and Sebastian passed by. The glistening that had caught his eye had been the gold tinsel that coated the stage just behind the glass. There was a set of lacy rose curtains bordering the window, and a backdrop of flowery cream taffeta behind the display. Standing in the window were three mannequins, each dressed with one of the fanciest, frilliest ballgowns Ciel had ever seen in his life. His gaze flicked to the sign swinging above the door.  _Madam Poppy's Handmade Finery._

It was so Elizabeth it practically sickened him.

"Here, Sebastian," Ciel said, nodding towards the store. "There's bound to be something that she will at least appreciate in here."

Sebastian offered a calm smile and strode forward to push the door open for his master. "My lord," he said, sweeping his arm gracefully in front of him.

Ciel strode in and took a look around. The entire shop had been painted a bright, cheery shade of candy pink. Scattered around the shop were free-standing mannequins draped with silk, satin, organza and a thousand other materials Ciel hadn't bothered to memorize the names of. Along with these were clothing racks lining the walls of the store, each of them packed with garments. Ciel made his way over to one and rifled through its contents. Each piece was different, each made by hand with exquisite stitching and a dazzling amount of embellishments. If any of these didn't hold Elizabeth's fancy, Ciel couldn't be sure what would.

Ciel looked over his shoulder. His butler was walking towards him, staying obediently at his side as always. A plump, bright-eyed woman stood at the service counter.  _Must be Madam Poppy,_ Ciel thought.  _I couldn't have chosen a better name for her myself._

"Anything I can do to I help you fine young lads?" the woman trilled, her voice carrying a faint Scottish accent.

"Help would be much appreciated, actually," Ciel said flatly, stepping away from the clothing racks and walking toward the counter, Sebastian following closely behind. "Do you happen to have any creations that might have been on display, say... around two weeks ago?"

"Oh." Madam Poppy tapped her manicured nails on the countertop, her eyes roving around the shop. "I can't be quite sure. I'll have to check. You stay right there, laddie. I'll return in just a moment." With that, she twirled on her toes and made her way past a pair of linen curtains behind the counter and into the back of the shop.

Ciel turned to Sebastian. "You reckon she hasn't sold it yet?"

"I'm sure it's still in stock, my lord," Sebastian said, a knowing glint in his blood-red eyes. "A Phantomhive butler who can't do something as simple as finding a certain fancy dress isn't worth his salt. I can promise you that much."

Ciel nodded, giving a small hum of agreement. He leaned back against the counter and looked absently around the shop as they awaited Madam Poppy's return.

He had to look twice before he noticed the young woman standing outside the window.

Ciel stared, his eyes frozen in place and refusing to blink. He had seen her before. He was sure he had.

Her face was plain but still pretty, her skin a deep tan color and a sad, submissive look in her dark blue eyes. Her hair was pale. Ciel would have thought it was blonde, but it was nowhere near that color. It was closer to white, such a bright shade of white that it seemed almost silver or even blue. He couldn't see the kind of clothing she was wearing, being that most of it was covered by a navy blue all-weather cloak, but something told Ciel that it was a maid's uniform. Specifically, a blue maid's uniform.

"Sebastian."

Ciel was about to say more. But before he'd even taken a breath to speak, the lady had disappeared.

His butler turned away from the counter and looked down at him. "What is it, my lord?"

Ciel blinked, his eyes fixed on the empty space outside the window where the lady had been standing. "I- I just..." he stuttered. "Th-there was... She's gone."

"Who is?"

"N-Nothing, Sebastian. Never mind." Ciel tore his gaze away and turned back to the counter.

There was a faint rustling in the back of the store behind the curtains. A few seconds later Madam Poppy reappeared. In her arms she was carrying a few fluffy-looking shapes covered by muslin garment bags. "You're in luck, young man!" she chirped, laying them down gingerly on the counter. "I've still got a good number of pieces that are still in stock. Take a gander." She carefully unzipped each of the garment bags and straightened each of the clothing pieces out on the counter in an impromptu display. "Pardon my asking, but what are a couple of lads like yourselves doing shopping around in such a frilly little shop like mine? Got a special lady friend you're shopping for?"

"I do, actually," Ciel answered, picking through each of the dresses Madam Poppy had laid out. "My fiance's birthday is next week, and she-"

"Ah, I thought so! I'm sure there's something on display that she'll take a liking to. Don't you worry, son."

Ciel wasn't listening. He was too busy holding down his vomit while knee deep in sequin, beads and taffeta trying to find Elizabeth's chosen dress. There was a reason why he hated going shopping with his fiance. This was exactly it.

After a few minutes of observation and stifled gagging, Ciel found that throughout the entire sickening experience, he had continually returned to look at one specific dress. It was made out of shimmering gold satin, with a long, billowy skirt with a sweep of pale gold frills fluttering down the front of the skirt in carefully layered tiers. It was trimmed with sparkly silver lace, and the bodice and corset were coated with carefully embroidered designs in metallic gold thread, glass beads and pearls.

"This one," Ciel said decisively, pointing at the gown. "How much is this one?"

"Oh, the gold one?" Madam Poppy twittered. "A bit pricey, if I say so myself. It's seven hundred and fifty pounds. Now that you mention it, there was a young lady in here around the time that I first put it on display. She stopped in my shop quite a few times but never did buy it. Such a shame. She seemed to have taken quite a fancy to it."

Ciel's eyebrows went up. He tugged Sebastian's sleeve.

"She must be talking about Elizabeth," he said in a hushed voice, looking up at his butler. Sebastian raised his eyebrows and gave him a sly smile in return.

Ciel turned back to Madam Poppy. "It's perfect. We'll take it," he said, forcing a smile.

A few short minutes later, the dress had been paid for, carefully packaged, and placed lovingly in Sebastian's arms. Ciel was fairly sure that Madam Poppy would have been crying if she were any more sentimental about her creations. She waved goodbye as if she were watching her daughter walk down the aisle as Ciel turned on a heel and started towards the exit. Sebastian followed closely behind, taking long strides to keep up. The earl couldn't get out of the blasted store fast enough. He was quite sure that standing around in that shop so long had given him cavities, and had he stayed in there any longer he may have gone blind from all the bright colors.

Ciel reached the front door of the store and pushed it open, eager to escape back into the gloomy streets of London. He had barely even cleared the doorframe when a streak of navy blue came hurtling down the street towards him. Ciel gasped and threw himself forward. The stranger brushed past him, narrowly avoiding shoving him back into the store. Ciel glanced over his shoulder before turning back to the street and stepping outside.

That stranger in blue was the last thing he remembered before everything went dark.

Sebastian stumbled backward as someone came sweeping in through the shop's front door. Elizabeth's dress nearly slipped out of his careful grasp. He gracefully caught it again and regained his balance before so much as a sequin touched the floor. He looked back up to get a better look at whoever had nearly mowed him down in the doorway.

It was a young woman. At least he thought it was. He couldn't be exactly sure, since the stranger was covered by a navy blue cloak, an oversized hood pulled over their face. Behind the dark screen, he thought he spied the lower half of a plain, delicate face and a pair of shell-pink lips.

"Excuse me," he said politely, taking another step towards the door.

The stranger reached up to remove their hood. Sebastian nearly choked when he saw who it was.

It was indeed a young woman. A young woman with tan skin. Silver-blue hair. Sad, passive blue eyes, one covered by the bright white swath of a bandage.

"No, excuse me," she said. Her voice was muted. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Wait a moment," Sebastian said. He stared intently at the lady in front of him. "Aren't you..."

Sebastian's eyes widened, his heart starting to pound. Ciel. Ciel had walked out ahead of him.

"Sir?" The lady... no, the demon asked. "Are you alright?"

Sebastian never answered. He turned away from her and dashed out the door.

By the time he had reached the street, Ciel was already gone.

* * *

 

Darkness. Warmth. A faint shaking.

Ciel wasn't sure exactly where he was. The best he could do was guess. Judging by the amount of shaking going on and the distant sound of hooves on pavement, he figured he was in the back of a carriage. He'd been blindfolded outside of the shop, then a strange-smelling cloth had been held over his mouth and nose until everything had faded away around him. Everything was still dark, and there was a faint feeling of pressure over his eyes, extra pressure where his eyepatch was. The blindfold had never been removed. And the warmth. Where was that infernal warmth coming from?

Ciel was lying flat on his back, his head raised a few inches above the rest of his body. He felt something brush gently against his cheek. A hand. Someone was holding his head in their lap.

Ciel tried to move. He tried to reach up toward his face, push away whoever was touching him, tear the blindfold away from his face. All he could manage to do was twitch. Whatever was in that cloth was still affecting him, making him feel sleepy and weak. He forced his heavy eyelids open, staring up at the blackness behind the blindfold. A small, frustrated moan escaped his mouth.

"Shhhh," a voice whispered. The hands stroked their fingertips softly over his face.

Ciel whined again, twitching helplessly, trying to move his arms to push them away.  _Stop,_  he begged in his mind.  _Please. Stop touching me._

"Ciel," the voice sang "Ciiiiieeeeel."

_Sebastian? Where are you? I'm scared._

"Hush, Ciel. I'm not going to hurt you."

That voice. He knew that voice.

"I promise you, Ciel. I'll return you without a scratch," Alois Trancy said, a faint purr in his voice.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, sweeties. I believe I forgot to leave an author's note on the first chapter of this literary disaster.
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to even finish the first chapter of this story. I commend you for coming this far. Yes, it is cielois. I ship it, don't judge me. It was also originally intended to be a one-shot but since I am long-winded and have too much free time it just didn't turn out that way. The story ended up being a freakin five-chapter-long anthology and I am trying to cut it down while I edit. It is also my first attempt at writing a smut, so if it's horrible, that's probably why.
> 
> Have fun. Please don't hate me after reading this.

* * *

 

 

By the time Sebastian returned to the Phantomhive estate, it was long past sundown. He had told Ciel that they would return, together, before dark. Apparently he couldn't fulfill either promise.

He clutched the paper-wrapped box that held Elizabeth's dress close. He'd found his master's fiance the present she was hoping for. At least he had managed to accomplish that much.

Sebastian had searched for hours. He traveled the entire expanse of London on foot, walking and walking until he was sufficiently sure that there was no hope of finding his young master. He was gone, gone as if he had simply vanished into thin air.

Sebastian's fingers dug angrily into the package in his arms. No. That was wrong. Ciel was somewhere. He just hadn't been able to figure out where somewhere was yet. And he would. He knew he would. And whoever had taken him away... they would pay. He would make sure of that.

He didn't know who it was yet, either. All he knew was that they were fast. In what he estimated to be roughly seventeen seconds, they had managed to swipe Ciel from his protective grasp. And the demon from the Trancy party. She had to have something to do with all of this.

A rustle sounded somewhere in the gardens just off the side of the path. A gravelly, boyish whine followed. "Hnnn... who's the- Sebastian! Oi, Sebastian's back!"

Sebastian turned to glance over his shoulder at the source of the noise. A young boy with sandy hair and wide teal eyes came bounding out of the shrubbery bordering the walkway up to the mansion. He flew forward, nearly knocking Sebastian to the ground in the process. The demon took a startled step back, narrowly avoiding getting run over for the second time that day. The boy smacked into the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and gravel. Sebastian lifted Elizabeth's dress away from the cloud of dust. He'd managed to keep it safe from sustaining any damage throughout the entire crisscrossing-London shenanigan, and he wasn't about to let that small achievement go to waste.

"Finnian, were you asleep in the garden?"

The boy sat up and brushed himself off. "Oh, er... well, I was tending to the hedge, like I do every week, and it was such a bloody nice day, so I guess I sort of... dozed off? Heh..." Finny laughed nervously, scratching at the back of his dirty, dust-covered neck.

"My," Sebastian murmured, regarding the gardener with mild confusion.

Finnian reached up to rub tiredly at his eyes. "It happens sometimes. I can't really help..." he began, but he trailed off before he finished speaking. He stared at Sebastian for a second, then he blinked and his bleary eyes flew open. "Sebastian... w-where's Ciel?"

Sebastian dropped his gaze to the ground, clenching his fingers on Elizabeth's dress again. His throat tightened. He couldn't tell him. Not here, at least.

"Finnian, gather the rest of the estate staff," he commanded. "We'll meet in the dining room. Something's gone wrong, and I'm going to need all the help I can get to fix it."

* * *

Ciel didn't know where he was. As for how he had gotten there, all he knew was that the poisoned cloth had been placed over his nose and mouth again, renewing the drug's effects on his brain. Somehow he had managed to hold his breath long enough to retain some of his senses before lack of oxygen had forced him to give up. He had still been too weak and his mind too drugged to fight back. He had been picked up by a pair of strong, slender arms and carried for a good three minutes before being dropped unceremoniously into what felt like a dining room chair. His hands were then tied behind the chairback, and his legs fastened to the chair's. A pair of small, cold hands had forced a gag into his mouth and tied the ends in a knot just below the blindfold. After that he heard footsteps fading into the distance and disappearing. Now everything was quiet, and he was fairly sure that the room was empty.

It had taken a long time for the cloth's poison to wear off.

Ciel bit down on the thick, heavy fabric of the gag and tugged at the ties around his wrists. Something rough and chafing sank into his skin. He twisted his fingers to run one along the ties around his hands. It was smooth to his touch, but felt like sandpaper where it was pulled taut against his skin. His hands were being held by multiple layers of thin, tightly woven cords.  _What hellish kind of rope is this?_  he thought.

He strained his legs against their bindings and the same painful bite let him know that they were tied with the mysterious material as well. He felt a tough, vicious tightness around his waist. That must have been tied down, too. A frustrated whine seeped through the gag.

Ciel struggled against the ties and let out another small, stifled cry. He pulled at the cords around his wrists and legs, chewed at the gag in his mouth, writhed in place until the chair threatened to tip over and slam him against the floor. All the while strangled noises escaped him, ranging from angry to pained to pitiful and everything in between. He struggled for what felt like hours, never stopping or slowing down until his wrists were raw and the gag was warm and soaking wet.

Ciel stopped his struggling and smacked his head backwards against the chairback. He let out one last strangled cry, which turned into a high-pitched shriek as the sandpaper cords dug into his already tender skin.

_Sebastian._  He wished he could call out for him.  _Where are you, Sebastian?_

The sound of soft, agile footsteps drifted through the closed door. Ciel's eyes widened behind the blindfold. His heart raced, adrenaline pouring into his system.  _Who is that?_  he thought.

Ciel froze, helpless to do anything but listen as the footsteps drew closer and turned into the sound of a doorknob turning, a latch clicking open and a door creaking open on its hinges before clicking shut again. The stranger who had entered the room was standing in front of him. He could feel it. A second later, a cool, delicate hand made contact with his cheek. Fingertips traced over the line of his jaw and across the gag tied tightly against his face.

"Now whose bloody idea was it to put this thing here?" a familiar voice said.

The hands reached behind his head and undid the knot that kept the gag pressed into his mouth. The thick wad of fabric was pulled gently away. Ciel's lips trembled. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't seem to recall how to use words properly. All he could manage was a terrified gasp.

The hands caressed his face again. "Ciel," the same voice whispered. "I finally have you, Ciel."

Alois Trancy. It was Alois Trancy who had untied the gag.

"A-Alois?" Ciel choked.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Alois said. Before Ciel could respond, the hands that had been stroking his face had grabbed hold of the blindfold and ripped it away, taking his eyepatch with it. Light flooded his vision. He hissed through his gritted teeth and ducked his head. Alois slipped a hand under his chin and pushed his head back. Ciel forced his eyes open.

The room was fairly small, lit up by a small arsenal of candelabras, each burning with a bright golden glow. Dark violet curtains were drawn over both of the windows, shutting out any semblance of natural light. There was a small fancy table pushed off to the side, along with several carved mahogany chairs that were exact replicas of the one Ciel was tied down to. A pale face was leaning in close to his, a face with ice-blue eyes and framed by platinum blonde fringe. Alois was smiling smugly at him, his fingers running along the soft, sensitive skin under Ciel's chin.

Ciel snarled, wishing that he could push him away. "S-stop that."

"Stop what?" Alois said innocently. His hand cupped around Ciel's face. His prisoner hissed and jerked his neck sideways, managing to put a few inches between them.

The Trancy earl giggled and pulled his hands away from Ciel. He rested them on his knees and leaned over his captive, a sick, satisfied smile on his face. Ciel wanted to punch it off of him.

"Why..." Ciel gasped, his speeding heart making it difficult to breathe. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Ciel Phantomhive, where are your manners? Skipping right over the formalities and starting with the questions already. Your behavior is pitiful, honestly."

"Let me get one thing straight. You kidnapped me," Ciel hissed. "I believe that formalities are out of the question."

"My, aren't you excitable today?" The smile fell from Alois's face. He stood up and started to walk in a slow circle around his prisoner. Ciel twisted his neck, following him with his gaze until he disappeared behind his chair. "As I recall, you weren't nearly this bitter when you arrived at the ball."

He felt Alois running his hand along the back of the chair. He shivered when it brushed against his spine. "I was drugged and stolen off the street. Did you honestly expect any different?"

"Not exactly. In fact, I thought you would be like this when you first woke up..."

"You never answered my question!" Ciel snapped before Alois could stall any further. "Why am I here? What do you want from me? Do you want me dead? Am I here for a ransom? What is it?"

Alois turned around to face Ciel. He placed his hands on either side of Ciel's head, bracing himself against the chairback and locking his eyes onto his prisoner's. "I don't want you dead, Ciel," he said, his voice considerably softer than before. "We both know that isn't what I brought you here for. I don't want a ransom. I don't want your soul, I don't want to make any deals... I don't want anything you might be willing to offer. You see, Ciel..." One of Alois's hands slipped down from the chairback to rest against Ciel's shoulder. "The only thing that I want from you... is you."

Ciel's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Alois tightened his hands on his shoulders and fell forward. His lips pressed violently against Ciel's.

Ciel choked. He couldn't breathe. His heart was pounding so fast, he was sure Alois could hear it. He wasn't sure whether or not he would care. Ciel whimpered and tried to pull away, but Alois held him there, pressing his head back against the chair, his lips fixed firmly in place. He couldn't move, couldn't fight back, not until Alois pulled away a few seconds later.

"W-What... What the hell..." Ciel stammered, gasping for air.

"Please, Ciel," Alois said. "Before you say anything, just let me explain. Try and understand me. Alright?"

"But... but you just... what?" Ciel cried. "Why did you-"

Alois pressed a finger to Ciel's lips, silencing him. "I'm alone, Ciel," he said softly. "I have been for a long time. And for just as long, I thought that was how my life was fated to be." Alois sighed and moved his hand away from Ciel's face to rest it against his chest. "I have Claude, of course. And Hannah, too. But they are my servants. All of them. They are only here because they have to be. They don't love me. Not like... not like I wish someone would."

Ciel swallowed and tried to speak. "A-and what do I have to do with all of this?"

_As if I don't know the answer already._

"You see, Ciel," Alois purred, his voice barely above a whisper, "I seem to have taken quite a fancy to you. I can't be quite sure when it started. In fact, I had never even seen you in person before the ball. But ever since that night... Well, to put it simply, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."

Ciel stiffened in the chair as Alois drew closer, then reached toward him and placed his arms around his neck. "All I wanted was for you to be here. Here with me. Do you understand, Ciel?"

Ciel stared up at Alois, unable to blink. "N-no," he choked, his voice bitter.

Alois's eyes darkened. His arms tightened behind his Ciel's neck as he pulled himself forward and slid into his lap. He brought his face in close to his prisoner's.

"Then maybe I can make you understand," he whispered.

Before Ciel could react, Alois had leaned in and kissed him again.

* * *

By the time Sebastian reached the dining room, someone was already there waiting for him.

"Sebas-chan! What do you think of me now?"

Sebastian heaved an exasperated sigh. The entire chamber had been painted red. Red on the wallpaper, red on the carpet, the table covered in a long red velvet tablecloth, even sparse red candles flickering romantically in the chandelier. And reclined seductively on the table dressed in a merlot silk dressing robe was quite possibly the most irritating sentient being that Sebastian knew of.

Meaning, of course, the grim reaper Grell Sutcliff.

"Well. I must say, this sight was certainly unexpected."

The reaper grinned and gave his long red hair a flirtatious flip. "Oh, Sebastian, I know how you love the spontaneous. And, of course, who would I be not to deliver in full?"

Sebastian looked bewilderedly around the room. "You've made an absolute mess of the dining room."

"A mess?" Grell pouted, leaning his chin childishly on his hands. "After all the work I did to make this room beautiful, this is the thanks I get?"

Sebastian sniffed the air, suspicious. "What did you use to paint the walls in here?"

Grell, instead of answering, flashed his crush a mischievous grin.

The demon sighed again and placed Elizabeth's gift on the velvet tablecloth. "Honestly. Sometimes I am not at all sure what to do with you." He looked at the red disaster of a dining room once more. "Now. How on Earth am I going to get all this cleaned up?"

As per usual, the dining room was returned to its normal state in a few short minutes.

Finny came barreling through the doors just short of twenty seconds later, followed closely by Maylene and Bardroy. Sebastian stood at the head of the table, along with a very depressed-looking Grell in the chair next to him.

"Ah, you brought the others. Thank you, Finnian," the butler said calmly. Grell whimpered and fell forward, bashing his face dejectedly against the table.

"What's going on, Sebastian?" Maylene asked, straightening her skewed glasses and static-clung apron. "Finny said that you returned without master Phantomhive. Has something happened?"

"I'm afraid so," Sebastian said gravely.

Bardroy had raised a hand and opened his mouth, presumably to make some comment about the fact that he had a roast in the oven at the moment and this had better be good. He froze at the sound of Sebastian's words. "W-what?" he murmured, stunned.

"Ciel was kidnapped while on our outing in London," the demon went on. "I spent around three hours searching for him already. He can't be found anywhere on the city streets."

Finnian's face had gone pale. "B-but... how did that even happen? You're... you're..."

"I know. It was a shock to me as well. I never saw the attacker, and Ciel was unable to leave a trace for me to track him down."

The entire estate staff had gone stone-faced with shock. Bardroy was the first to speak up. "So... master Ciel is just... gone?"

"It would seem so."

Maylene looked as though she were about to faint. "Oh... oh no..."

"However..."

The estate staff lightened up at the sound of that single word. "However?" Bardroy asked.

"However," Sebastian continued, "I do have one lead. I can't be quite sure how viable it is, but it's all we've got. It will simply have to do for now."

"What is that, Sebastian?" Finnian asked, his eyes curious.

"Approximately seventeen seconds before the young master disappeared, a stranger ran into me in the doorway of the shop where I purchased this dress for the lady Elizabeth." The demon placed a hand gingerly on Elizabeth's gift. "She managed to stall me for a short time, and upon further examination, I found that this stranger was in fact the demon who had played that strange instrument at the Trancy ball five days ago. It's led me to the conclusion that master Phantomhive was captured on the orders of Alois Trancy, the heir to the Trancy estate and host of the very ball we had attended."

"Trancy?" Maylene murmured. "Didn't he come to the estate yesterday and try to invite us to another ball?"

Finny brightened. "Yeah, that's right! And Ciel ripped up the invitation, didn't he?"

"This violence may be the result of an umbrage that master Trancy has taken as a result of my master's actions," Sebastian went on, his voice level and factual. "I do not know exactly where my master has been taken, but the best place for us to begin would be-"

"That estate of Trancy's is huge," Bardroy muttered, tapping his chin and pondering the evidence as if he had stopped listening to Sebastian after the name "Trancy" was mentioned. "It's possible that-"

"That Ciel has been taken to the estate and hidden somewhere on the grounds, yes," Sebastian finished. Bardroy shut his mouth and stood at attention once more.

"I haven't had much time to devise a plan, but I've still been able to come up with a basic concept."

Maylene nodded enthusiastically. "Which is?"

"It's quite a risk," Sebastian said warily. "It probably is not the best I could have done, but given the short time we have to work with and the great uncertainty of the situation, I'm afraid we have no other choice. I'm going to need all of your help." He gave each member of the staff an earnest look. They returned it with the utmost sympathy.

Sebastian looked down at the chair beside him where Grell was sitting, still slumped over facedown on the table. "And..." he began. The reaper looked up at him and sniffed.

"Lucky for you, I'm going to need your assistance as well."

Grell's shriek of joy nearly broke the dining room windows.

* * *

Ciel had stopped breathing for the second time. And just like the first, it was because Alois Trancy had pinned his mouth under his own.

The earl was starting to go lightheaded. He couldn't move, couldn't fight back, couldn't do anything as long as he was tied down to this blasted chair except wait until Alois let him go. By the time that finally happened, he was about to faint. He doubled over as far as the ties around his waist and ribs would let him, taking in huge, desperate gulps of air.

"Ciel, there's a certain thing called breathing," Alois said, a spiteful laughter in his voice. "And, as far as I know, you sort of have to do it to survive. Kissing supposedly shouldn't stop it, either."

"Sh-shut up..." Ciel snarled, twisting his neck and pulling his chin toward his chest. He wanted to hide his face or do just about anything else to keep Alois from kissing him again.

Of course, that would never work. In less than a second, Alois had taken Ciel's face roughly in his surprisingly strong hands and forced him to look up. He pressed his mouth onto Ciel's again, holding him still, his inescapable grip making it impossible to turn away. Ciel choked again, his breath sticking in his throat. He already felt dizzy. He couldn't hold his breath anymore. With a small, pitiful squeak, he opened his mouth to gasp for air. Alois's lips drew back from his.

"There," he cooed, letting go of Ciel's face and tracing his fingers over his cheek. "That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

"Nnnn..." Ciel groaned. His head was still reeling, but whether it was from his skipping heart, his oxygen-starved blood or the mind-numbing shock taking hold of his nerves, he wasn't sure. Ciel hung his head forward, mumbling some strange words that made no sense.

"What was that?" Alois asked.

"I- I said... I said that you're a desperate, mentally disturbed cur and... and that this is probably the only way that you will ever-"

Ciel was silenced by Alois's lips once more. His heart continued to beat like rain against pavement. Steeling himself against the feeling of his captor's mouth pressed against his, Ciel forced himself to breathe. There. That was it. The horrible, disorienting static in his head was starting to clear.

Meanwhile, Alois dragged his lips away from Ciel's mouth. "Ciel..." he whispered. "Ciel I have wanted this for so long, you can't even begin to imagine..."

An acidic burn was starting to well up in the corners of Ciel's eyes. He closed them and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to take another breath. He managed to inhale normally, but his breath came out staggered and shaky.

Alois leaned back to look Ciel in the eyes. "Ciel?"

"S-stop..."

Alois cocked his head to the side, as if he were confused. He looked stunned, hurt, even. "You... you don't like it?" he whimpered.

"A-Alois, please..." Ciel murmured, his voice choked and raspy. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why..." Alois repeated Ciel's words, his voice fading into a bewildered whisper. His face went pale. His eyes widened, filled with ice-cold shock. "Oh," he whispered. He moved his hands away from Ciel's face. Ciel stared up at him through the haze of tears in his eyes. Alois had dropped his gaze to the floor, slumped over so his forehead was just inches from Ciel's.

"Alois?"

"Why?" His voice was barely even a whisper. His hands had been drawn back, no longer touching Ciel anywhere except where gravity pressed their legs together. "Why did I ever think... I- I've been so..."

"Alois," Ciel rasped again, his voice commanding. He didn't feel like crying anymore. "What is it?"

"I- I was hoping that... no. No, the sentiment was stupid to begin with."

"It seems a little late for regrets, Alois," Ciel said, his voice steady despite the fact that he was tied down to a chair with his kidnapper on top of him. "I'm going to pretend that I already don't know the answer to this question and ask it anyway. What were you going to do to me?"

"I..." Alois murmured, tightening his fingers around the fabric of his shorts. "I was so blinded, Ciel. I just wanted you so badly, I was hoping that... If I could bring you here... maybe I could... I could..."

"Could what?"

"...I could make you feel the same."

Ciel stared up at Alois. The tears from before were gone. It seemed that Alois had drunk in his own hopeless feelings while kissing him and taken them up himself.

"And how did you plan on doing that?"

Alois looked up at him and blinked. His eyes had gone glassy. "The only way I know how."

He raised his hand towards Ciel's face to touch his cheek again. Ciel jerked his head away, and the hand dropped. "So you thought that you could make me fancy you by force?" he said.

Alois nodded. "I- I know, Ciel. It doesn't work like that. I know it doesn't, but-"

"Have you lost your mind, Alois?" Ciel snapped. Alois's eyes widened and he shrank back. "Of course it doesn't work like that! It never does! You can't just force someone to love you!"

"I KNOW THAT, Ciel! I already told you!" Alois shrieked. His eyes were brimming with tears now. "That's why I brought you here in the first place! And even... Even if you don't want me, I..."

"You what?"

Alois scrubbed at a tear rolling over his cheek, then reached out to run his fingers through Ciel's hair. "I can still love you, Ciel," he breathed. "Even if you don't feel the same way about me."

For once, Ciel didn't pull his head away from the young earl's delicate touch. "What do you mean?"

"I know how these things work, Ciel," Alois purred. Ciel could tell that the seductiveness was forced. "I know how to love. I've done it before, Ciel." He reached up and brushed his fingertips along the curve of Ciel's cheek. "And I'm very good at it." He wasn't feeling any lust at all anymore. He just wanted to cry. But he was putting up a shield, like a velvet curtain, to make Ciel believe that he still wanted him.

"What are you going on about, Alois?"

The earl never answered. His gaze dropped from Ciel's face, then his hand a second later. "Ciel..."

"You don't have to do that for me. You shouldn't have to do that for anyone. I don't know why you think you do, but you don't. Prostituting yourself can't be the only way you can make people love you. At least it shouldn't be."

Alois swiped at his eyes, the pale blonde fringe of his bangs hiding his face. A small noise escaped his lips. Ciel could feel him starting to shake.

"Alois?"

"Nn?" the boy on top of him squeaked. Ciel knew that he couldn't manage any more of a response than that.

"Can I ask you to do something for me?"

Alois nodded, still refusing to meet Ciel's gaze.

"I want you to untie my hands."

"W-what?" Alois sounded surprised.

"Just my hands, Alois. I won't hurt you. I won't try to run away, either. I promise."

Alois sniffed and swiped at his face once more. He leaned forward, almost like he had when he had been forcing Ciel to kiss him, and reached behind the back of the chair. Ciel felt his fingertips prodding his wrists, picking at the knots in the cord. A few seconds later, the knots came loose, and the torturous rope fell away from Ciel's hands. Cold air brushed against his raw, rope-burned skin. Ciel winced at the feeling and looked up at Alois. He was leaning back again, his head hanging and his face hidden behind a curtain of hair. He thought he saw fresh tears streaming over his cheeks.

Ciel flexed his freed wrists and forced his tense, rubbery arms to move. He looked up at the boy in his lap who, still refused to look his prisoner in the eyes. Before Ciel could take another second to think about what he was doing, he reached forward and slid his arms around Alois.

"Cie-" Alois choked. It was all he had time to get out before Ciel dragged him forward and pushed his head down onto his shoulder. He crushed the young earl against him and ran his hand over his smooth blonde hair, burying his face into the fabric of his shirt. Alois didn't protest.

"You don't have to do this, Alois," Ciel said softly. "You should never have to do this. Not for me, not for anyone. Do you understand?"

Alois nodded, his hair brushing against Ciel's chin. The earl sighed and removed his hand from his captor's head. The boy drew back, wiped viciously at the tears staining his face and focused his eyes on Ciel.

Suddenly, Alois Trancy burst into tears.

* * *

Outside, the Trancy estate was quiet. Too quiet, in Sebastian's opinion.

The soft rustle of wind in the garden leaves drowned out the sound of his breathing. He hoped it would drown out his footsteps as well. Or not so much his, as the rest of his rescue party's.

"Bassy."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, squinting through the darkness. The mansion of the estate was approximately eight hundred and twenty-four feet away, a distance he could cover in roughly three point five seconds. He probably could have done this alone. In fact, maybe he should have. But he'd seen what the Trancy staff had done at the ball. He had no idea what they were capable of.

"Baaaasssyyyyy."

He ventured an inch closer. This estate was huge, even larger than his own. Ciel could be anywhere on the property. It didn't matter, though. He would find him. He would if he had to search every inch of the bloody place. And that lady demon. She was here. If Ciel wasn't, there had to be something she knew. And if there wasn't...

"Seeeeebaaaaas-chaaaaan."

Alright, that was enough. Sebastian broke his focus and turned around. "Sutcliff, do you mind?"

The redheaded reaper was crouched behind him, a fanged grin on his pale, jovial face. "Of course not."

"That's not what I meant," Sebastian muttered, nodding towards Grell's foot. It was pressed right up next to his, almost on top of it. So was the rest of Grell's body. Personal space was clearly not a concern of his.

"But we're so close," he whispered, his eyes gleaming. "Isn't this beautiful? I have never been happier to be joining you in your errands, Bassy. I would follow you forever if it meant we could be like this-"

Grell was cut off by a firm shove to his solar plexus. He coughed and tumbled backwards into the bushes. "Clearly you are beyond reasoning," the demon hissed.

"O-owwww..." Grell whined once he had gotten air back into his lungs. "Sebastian, that was... that was the most beautiful pain I have ever felt!"

"Grell, shut your bloody mouth," a voice hissed from the bushes a few feet away.

"Yeah, listen to Maylene. Do you want us to get caught?" another added.

Sebastian sighed and turned back to the estate. This was going to be a long night.

As he stared at the softly glowing windows of the mansion, a dark silhouette crossed through the golden light. Sebastian narrowed his eyes and watched. The shadow continued moving, then stopped in the middle of the window. It turned, as if to look out at the darkened world outside, stayed for a moment, then turned back and moved on.

A split second later, a strong, sinewy hand snatched Sebastian up by the back of the neck and dragged him out of his hiding place in one swift movement.

Sebastian struggled against the mystery assailant's grasp, his eyes still refocusing. He wished he hadn't spent so long using his farsighted vision. Now he was blind until his eyes went back to normal. In the dark, he found the hand clutching the scruff of his neck. He quickly dug his fingers into it, hoping to break the delicate bones and free himself. But, for some reason, no matter how he squeezed, he never felt the rigid, jarring snap against his fingers.

_This thing is not human._

Sebastian forced his eyes to open. An amber-yellow gaze stared back at him.

"My. Your master tore up our cordial invitation, now here you are showing up unannounced? How distasteful."

"Claude Faustus," Sebastian growled. "That's the name your master uses to refer to you, isn't it?"

"He refers to me with many names," Claude said smugly. "But you can feel free to use that one, if you wish." The amber-eyed demon gave a low, sniggering laugh. "You've made a big mistake coming here alone, Sebastian."

Sebastian glared at his attacker, a faint smile spreading across his face. "I never said I was alone."

Claude's eyes flew open. "What?"  
Sebastian didn't bother explaining any further. Grell's chainsaw did that for him quite efficiently as it buried itself into Claude's side.

The smell of burning gas and engine noise pierced the air of the garden. Claude's eyes rolled back, and his hand went limp on Sebastian's neck. The Phantomhive butler dropped to the ground and watched as Grell rose from the shrubbery and forced his death scyther further into Claude's flesh. Blood sprayed the grass, leaves and blossoms, splattering the entire surrounding garden with spots of dark, rusty red. Grell grinned as the demon's blood drained from his body and stained his face.

"It's...so...beautiful!" he cried, tugging his scythe roughly out of the demon's torso. Bits of flesh and even more blood scattered forth from the massive gash. Claude let out a weak, strangled groan before a stream of blood spilled from his mouth and he collapsed into the grass.

The reaper stood triumphantly above him, brandishing his dripping chainsaw like the holy grail. "That'll teach you to hurt my Sebas-chan!" he said proudly.

"Enough gloating, Grell," Sebastian commanded. He looked back at the shrubbery. The vague, shadowy shapes of Bardroy, Finny and Maylene crept out of the underbrush.

"Is he dead?" Finnian asked cautiously.

"No," Sebastian answered flatly. "He's down, but he won't be for long. Now come on." He reached behind him and grabbed Grell by the wrist, earning an elated squeal in return.

"We have to run. Ciel is waiting for us."

* * *

Ciel wasn't entirely sure how long he spent sitting there. Alois was still perched on his lap, slumped over and sobbing openly into his hands. The earl Phantomhive didn't know why he hadn't done anything. His hands were free. He could have easily untied himself, pushed the whimpering mess that used to be Alois Trancy away and escaped. But for some reason he didn't.

_Lord, Alois is disarming when he cries._

Eventually the sobs started to subside, each emotional convulsion coming with more and more time in between. Alois gasped, forcing himself to breathe normally. His chest heaved and shuddered, and he pushed his disheveled hair out of his face and blinked the last of his tears away. His eyes landed on Ciel's.

"What is it now?" Ciel asked. His words were no longer condescending, just soft and curious.

"I..." Alois breathed, his voice staggering. "Ciel, I... N-no one had ever said anything like that to me before."

"What?" the earl whispered. "What do you mean?"

"What... what I said before... That m-making myself... do things for people was the only way I could make them love me... I- I meant it."

"You meant-"

"That's what I really thought. That's what I've thought for years, Ciel. But... but when I found out about you,and I... I began feeling things, things I've never thought I could..."

Ciel stared at Alois, his face blank, hearing the boy's words but not really listening. What did he mean? Why did he think that whoring himself out was the only way-

Oh.

_Oh._

"Alois."

The blonde earl in Ciel's lap fell silent.

_Then maybe I can make you understand._

Alois blinked, a fresh tear rolling over his cheek. "Ciel, what are you-"

"I understand. Your feelings for me, what you said before, why... why you did this." He flicked his hand around at the locked door and the remaining ties on the chair. "And Alois..."

"Yes, Ciel?"

He brought one raw, scraped hand up and cupped it around Alois's cheek. The boy pressed tenderly back, closing his eyes and fluttering his lashes against Ciel's fingers. Dark blue eyes locked onto light.

"I want you to kiss me again."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I rated this M and it hasn't been all that smutty so far, and I'm sorry, but it doesn't get there for a while. Like I said, this is my first smut, so if it's horrible that is probably why.
> 
> I was listening to Panic! At The Disco while writing part 2 and I was listening to Bittersweet while Claude was getting chainsawed. Ifyou ever hear it it's pretty much the cheeriest song in existence. Such perfect gore writing music.
> 
> I'm going to shut up now and let everyone read.

* * *

 

 

Ciel didn't know what he was thinking when he said it. He didn't know why. But he still did. It was too late now. There was no way he could take it back. Alois leaned in close to Ciel's face and closed his eyes.

 _I regret nothing,_ he thought.

Ciel's eyes fell shut as well. It just felt right to do that. In all honesty, he'd never even really kissed before Alois had forced him to. He'd kissed Lizzy, of course. On her hand, sometimes even her cheek. But not like this. Never like this.

_Nothing._

Somewhere in the darkness behind his eyelids, Alois's lips pressed against his.

_NOTHING._

He couldn't find the words to describe what it felt like. It was as if all he could feel was Alois, every end of his nerves that wasn't touching him gone numb. The earl's hands were pressed up against his stomach, his hips sliding forward onto his own, his back arched and his mouth... Dear god, his mouth. It felt so different from before. Not cold or forced. Soft, warm, trembling and genuine. A shiver ran down Ciel's spine, heat rising up inside of him as if someone had lit his organs on fire. Alois seemed to be drawing his soul out bit by bit through his mouth.

_He was right. He is very good at this._

Ciel shivered again. He had never felt this before. The strange feeling of numbness in his fingertips, the blaze in his core, the sickening but somehow exhilarating sensation in his head. And Alois had managed to draw it all out with just a kiss. Ciel's heart was racing again, but for a different reason now. He needed to breathe. He was suffocating under all this ecstasy. He parted his lips, just a bit, just to get some of air...

Something warm and slimy slithered along his lip, then slipped into his mouth. Ciel's eyes flew open. It was Alois's tongue.

Ciel gasped. The tongue that had been so bold a split second ago shot back into Alois's mouth. The boy opened his eyes and pulled back. He blinked, a frightened look in his eyes.

"D-did I do something wrong?" he whimpered.

Ciel reached up one recently reanimated arm and wiped away the film of saliva on his lip. "No, that was just... kind of sudden."

"I'm... I'm sorry. That was too soon-"

"No," Ciel said quietly. Alois fell silent, fixing his wide blue eyes on the dark-haired boy in front of him. The earl Phantomhive moved his hand away from his face and toward Alois's. He traced his fingers over the soft, smooth skin of his cheek, up to his hairline and behind the pale shell of his ear. His hand fixed itself there, his fingers combed halfway through his silky blonde hair. "No, it's alright."

Alois froze for a second, staring at Ciel in confusion. He blinked. Suddenly he understood. Ciel's other hand slid up behind his back as Alois leaned forward to kiss him again.

Ciel fell again, even faster than he had the first time. The numbness, the fire, the dizziness all came rushing back, hitting him with even more force than they had before. Ciel's lips parted, and some strange, foreign noise escaped, something that sounded like the hybrid of a whimper and a gasp. Alois slid his tongue forward again, pressing tentatively against Ciel's lip. Not sure how to respond, Ciel stuck out his own, finding a soft, trembling tongue meeting his halfway. Alois pushed forward, his mouth sliding over the both of their tongues before pushing his own past Ciel's lips. Accepting the unspoken challenge, Ciel pushed back, slipping his own tongue into Alois's mouth. The playful pushing turned into an all-out war, both boys trying to shove past each other and keep their tongue in the other's mouth for as long as possible before getting pushed back. Alois gave up after a few minutes and let Ciel win, opening his mouth and pressing it against his prisoner's, who wasn't so much a prisoner anymore as an especially esteemed guest.

A few minutes later, Ciel slid a hand between himself and Alois. He pushed gently against the boy's chest, telling him wordlessly that he needed to stop. Alois let out a small whine of protest and let go, a thin thread of saliva snapping in half between the two of them. Alois laughed and wiped it away with his sleeve.

"Disgusting," he giggled.

"You didn't seem to think it was so disgusting a few minutes ago," Ciel murmured, a poorly concealed smirk on his face. He drew his hands back. One had somehow ended up tangled in Alois's hair and the other under his vest and up against the softness of his shirt.

"Not that," Alois retorted. "I meant the... the thing that..." His eyes caught Ciel's gaze and froze, locked in an inescapable grip. He pressed a hand to his mouth, stifling a nervous laugh.

A smile began to force its way onto Ciel's face. "What?"

Alois grinned, a snort of laughter seeping through his fingers. "I-I don't know!" he said, his eyes shining. "I... I can not believe we just..."

Ciel broke out into a fit of laughter. "Neither can I!" he gasped.

It kept on going, both the boys laughing, their nerves on edge, not sure what else to do other than laugh, laugh until all the awkwardness had melted away. It was as if they had forgotten that Ciel was still tied to a chair, that Alois had stolen him off the street, almost as if the earl Phantomhive had come to the Trancy estate of his own free will. As if they were normal, one boy just coming to the other's estate for a visit. As if the damage sustained by their fragile hearts had never been inflicted in the first place, Ciel realized with burning clarity.

Alois collapsed against Ciel, his chest heaving, trying to take back all the oxygen he's lost in his hysterical fit. His hands pressed softly against the dark-haired boy's chest, their foreheads touching, their lips just inches apart. His eyes flickered. Ciel heard his breath catch in his throat.

He didn't waste any time. Ciel took Alois's face in his hands and closed the gap between them.

* * *

_Crash._

The sound of a revving chainsaw sliced the still, quiet air of the Trancy first-floor parlor. Flecks of red splattered the walls and shards of glass scattered over the floor. A flash of red came flying in through the gaping hole in the freshly smashed window.

Grell Sutcliff flipped his hair, shaking free any stray bits of glass that might have been stuck. He knelt down to grab his humming death scythe, stood up and swept the room with his watchful yellow eyes.

"All clear, Bassy!" he squealed at the broken window.

"A little stealth would be greatly appreciated, Grell," a furtive voice answered from outside. A lithe, shadowy figure slipped through the jagged opening and landed gracefully on the floor. Behind him was a maid, along with a gardener and a chef. "You're sure the place is empty?"

"As far as I can see," Grell said matter-of-factly. "I can't look through walls, Sebas-chan." A razor-edged smile spread across his face. "But clothes, on the other hand, and in terms of you-"

Sebastian slapped a hand over the reaper's mouth and pressed a finger to his lips. Grell fell silent, his skin growing hot under Sebastian's gloved fingers. The demon's eyes flicked around the room, as if searching for something. A few seconds later, he took his hand back.

Grell gasped in rapture. "W-what was that about, Bassy?"

"I thought I heard something," Sebastian said. "But I'm afraid I was wrong."

The demon moved to the window and extended a hand to Maylene. The Phantomhive maid took it and let Sebastian pull her through, a few loose shards getting knocked out of the frame by her skirts. Bardroy and Finnian followed, landing a great deal more clumsily than either the butler or reaper had. Once the entire invasion force was inside, Sebastian stood back and addressed them.

"We have no idea as to where Ciel may be hidden on the estate, or if he is even hidden here at all. It's best if we split up. Maylene, Bardroy and Finnian..." He nodded towards his fellow staff members. "You go along in one group. Grell and I can manage on our own."

"S-Sebastian," the reaper stuttered, his face bright red. "Do...Do you mean we'll be... A TEA-"

"I'll be searching the upper stories first. The middle floors will be Grell's, and the first two stories are the largest, so they will be your responsibility."

Grell's blushing smile went up in smoke.

"If you run into any staff members, fight them. Once you've compromised them, interrogate them on the whereabouts of the young master. However, if they strike you as unnatural in any way, run."

Finnian raised his hand. "Sebastian, what do you mean by-"

"Oh dear. Look at this dreadful mess. The master will not be pleased one bit."

Sebastian whirled around. He knew that voice. She hadn't spoken much at the ball, but he remembered that afternoon quite clearly.

A lovely maid was standing in the middle of the carpet of shattered glass and blood spots. The hem of her pale blue dress brushed the floor, slowly tattering and staining against the bloody glass. Her pale, bluish hair shone in the moonlight, a strip of bright, sterile white standing out against the deep bronze of her skin.

"That is what I mean, Finnian," he said flatly, not even bothering to glance over his shoulder. "I've rotated the floor arrangements. Lower stories are now mine, the rest of you as follows. Now run along. I can handle her."

The Phantomhive staff and reaper obeyed without question. Soon it was just Sebastian and the maid.

"This seems a bit uncivilized of you," the maid said. "If I'm not mistaken, didn't you and your master refuse the invitation we offered you just yesterday?"

"My, it seems you're right," Sebastian answered cordially. "And I'm frightfully sorry about the window. But the invasive force can't exactly walk in through the front door, now can they?"

The maid cocked her head to the side, as if confused. Then she extended her arm to the side, tilted her head back, opened her mouth and proceeded to jam her hand down her throat.

Sebastian raised his eyebrows. He watched amusedly as she choked, her fingers digging around and pressing against the skin of her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut and tensed her arm, a few tears escaping her eyes as she started to draw it back.

"Well," Sebastian murmured in surprise. Something long, sharp and twisted was slowly dragged up from the maid's throat. The teal-colored metal was slick with fluid, twisted like the stems wild climbing roses and tapering down into a sharp, thornlike blade. The maid coughed as the last of the strange weapon was pulled loose, blinking the last of the tears away from her eyes. Sebastian felt the cold, comforting weight of silverware in the palms of his hands, the blades of fancy knives left exposed between his tightly clenched fingers.

"It's not mine to use, exactly," the maid rasped, her throat quite possibly wounded from the inside. "But I'm sure Claude won't mind me using it to fend off some uninvited scum."

"You certainly like to play dirty, don't you?" Sebastian quipped.

The both of them lunged forward, weapons held high.

* * *

Something was pressing against Ciel's sides.

Of course, it wasn't as though something hadn't been pressed against him for the past half hour.

The soft, gentle feeling of Alois's lips on his had faded away into faint whispers of air brushing against his skin. The blonde earl had leaned back, just far enough to put a few inches between their mouths. He came forward again a second later, then turned to the side, his pale, silky hair brushing against Ciel's cheek. Alois's arms were stretched behind the back of the chair.

"Alois, what are you doing?" Ciel asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" the earl answered quietly, his chest pushing against Ciel's. "I'm untying you."

"Untying me? Why are you-" Ciel began, but he fell silent at the sudden feeling of freedom around his waist. The vicious bite of the cords that held him in place was starting to slacken. A few more seconds, and it was gone. He heard the soft, dull noise of the rope falling loosely to the stone-tiled floor. Alois shifted on top of him and slid off of his legs, then went to work at the restraints.

"There," Alois said with a bit of satisfaction as he picked apart the knots in the cord. The rope hit the floor in a loose, wilted pile. The earl stood up, a proud smile on his face, his fingertips rubbed bright red from pulling at the abrasive cords. He looked down at Ciel, as if waiting for some kind of response.

"Why-" Ciel started again. "Why did you... Alois, what's going on?"

The smile on the blonde earl's face began to fade. "What? Did you want to stay tied down with that bloody rope burning your bloody skin off?"

_What is this? First he's about to rape me, then he's crying at my feet, then kissing me, and now he's letting me go?_

"No, I'm just... I'm a bit confused is all."

"What's there to be confused about?" Alois tilted his head to the side and placed his hands on his narrow hips. "You've been sitting here, patiently letting me kiss you for the past twenty minutes. If that doesn't prove that you're not going to run away from me, I don't know what does. So there's no longer any reason for you to be tied up, is there?"

Ciel glared at Alois. "Who said I wasn't going to be running away?"

The earl smirked. "You're not running now, are you?" he said, raising his eyebrows at the now-ropeless chair where Ciel still remained.

The dark-haired boy sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "The door is locked. Trying to run would be pointless anyhow."

Smiling, Alois stepped forward and extended a hand, waiting for his captive to take it. Ciel sighed and removed his hand from his face, placing it in his. Alois tightened his fingers around Ciel's and pulled. The boy was jerked forward, stumbling on his numb, unsteady legs.

 _Bloody hell_ , he thought.  _How long have I been sitting here?_

A pair of hands fastened themselves around Ciel's shoulders, catching him before he fell. He waited for his legs to respond, the numb, staticky feeling already starting to fade. Once he was standing on his own, he looked up at the face of the one who'd stopped him from hurting himself any further than he already had. Alois's pale blue eyes met with Ciel's. The vicious, lustful hunger that he had seen when his blindfold had first been removed was gone. It had been replaced by something else entirely. Something warm and wistful and loving and lonely, so lonely...

"It's alright, Ciel," he murmured, a smile still playing at his lips. "I'm right here."

Ciel's hands reached up and rested themselves against Alois's shoulders, sliding up the front of his jacket, then over the back of his neck until the earl Phantomhive's arms had locked around him. The blonde boy was taller than him, just by a few inches, but still significant. He looked so different from the image in Ciel's memory from the ball, even from the uneventful visit to his front door.

Ciel's heart involuntarily fluttered. "I know."

Something brushed softly against his waist. He didn't even bother looking to see what it was. He already knew it was Alois, slipping his arm around him, his other hand reaching up to stroke Ciel's face with his fingertips. The boy closed his eyes and leaned his head in close to Ciel's, pressing their foreheads together as if they shared some kind of psychic connection. He felt the faint warm brush of Alois's breath against his face. The taller boy turned his head to the side, his nose grazing Ciel's, and pressed his lips against his cheek. Ciel nuzzled against his face in response. He wasn't quite sure why.

Alois's hand moved slowly away from Ciel's face, tracing a smooth trail down the side of his neck, onto his shoulder, all the way down his arm until his captor's hand was resting in his.

"Ciel," he whispered, his mouth almost brushing the boy's ear.

"Yes?"

"I want to show you something."

Ciel loosened his remaining arm around Alois's shoulders and drew back to look him in the eyes. "Then show me."

"There's just one thing I'm going to have to ask."

"Which is?"

Alois's face fell just the slightest bit. "You're going to have to put the blindfold on again."

Ciel's mouth dropped open. "Are you serious?"

The blonde let out a small sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

"I thought you said you trusted me."

"That was with a locked door standing in the way."

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Fine. Can I at least have my eyepatch back?"

Alois glanced at the small swatch of black fabric atop the dark grey mound of gag and blindfold on the floor. "I don't see why not."

Ciel untangled himself from the fair boy's grasp and made his way over to the limp pile of fabric. He snatched his eyepatch off the top, pressed it over his violet pentagram eye and tied the strings tightly behind his head. He had no intention of losing this thing again.

A second later, everything went black.

"What? What the-"

Ciel felt a slight, familiar pressure over his eyes. He reached up and felt the thick, dark fabric of the blindfold being held against his face once again.

"It's alright, Ciel. it's just me," a voice behind him said. Alois. He should have been expecting this.

"I know, I know. Bloody hell, at least tell me when you're going to do it before you actually do."

"Do you expect me to apologize or something?" Alois retorted, laughter in his voice. Ciel felt his fingers pressing gently against his face, holding the blindfold in place. He reached up, brushing his captor's hands with his own.

"So what exactly was it that you wanted to show me?" he asked.

"I'm going to have to take you to it," Alois answered. Ciel sensed the boy standing behind him. "Do you trust me, Ciel?"

"You kidnapped me, tied me to a chair, assaulted me, then finally decided to become a decent human being, poured your soul out to me, cried, kissed me and untied me without actually making any effort to set me free at all," Ciel snapped. "What the hell do you expect me to say?"

Alois laughed, his breath soft against Ciel's ear. "So the answer is yes, then."

* * *

Hannah hit the floor with a dull, sticky  _thud._  Blood spurted up her throat and leaked out from between her lips. For the second time, her sword was knocked out of her grasp. She stared as it skittered across the floor and away from her.

Hannah. So that was this creature's name. Sebastian had introduced himself to her like any polite guest should shortly after the fight started. And she, being the excellent hostess she was, did the same. Of course, she had yet to clean up the mess that his rescue party had left while breaking in. However, the fight had created an even greater one. Cleaning would have been redundant.

"Alright," Sebastian said, placing a foot on the small of Hannah's back and pinning her in place. Still her hands scrabbled at the glass-strewn floor, reaching for her weapon. "I've asked you once, and I've asked you a thousand times more. You were present at Ciel's disappearance. Do you know where he is?"

Sebastian received the same answer that he had been given the multiple times he had asked before. Hannah braced her arm against the floor and forced herself to roll over. Sebastian's ankle twisted. He let out an airy gasp before Hannah's clawed hands wrapped around his leg. A second later, he was lying on the floor beside her, and a second beyond that she was on her hands and knees, leering over him like a wolf over its prey.

"Yes, Sebastian, I do know where your master is," she hissed.

My. That was new.

"And there is no way in hell that I am going to tell you."

"Funny, you use the name of my home in such an odd manner," Sebastian remarked. He flicked his wrist forward and bent his arm at the elbow, a piece of silverware still hidden in his sleeve. It slipped forward into the palm of his hand. The blade slid smoothly between his fingers, then into the flesh of Hannah's shoulder.

The maid's eyes widened. She let our a piercing scream. Blood dripped from her gaping mouth and splattered on the floor next to Sebastian's head. In that single second of weakness, Sebastian managed to writhe out of Hannah's sharp-nailed grasp. The two of them flew into another angry, desperate flurry. Hannah tried to get her sword once or twice, but Sebastian had managed to knock it so far out of the way that it wasn't even worth going after. Sebastian, on the other hand, had run out of silverware. Now the two of them were fighting unarmed, throwing each other at the walls and furniture until one of them broke.

Sebastian had fully expected Hannah to weaken first. After all, a Phantomhive butler who couldn't win a simple fistfight against a human maid wasn't worth his salt. However, she still had yet to surrender. Something in the back of Sebastian's mind told him that the lady he was fighting was no ordinary maid.

Eventually the fight reached another stalemate. This time it was Hannah on the floor, a second later it was Sebastian, then Hannah, then Sebastian, then the same cycle over and over again.

Sebastian was on top of Hannah, who was pinned face down in the glass, blood running even more heavily from her mouth, along with a deep cut above her eyebrow, the stab wound on her shoulder, and an entire collection of other small injuries. Sebastian's condition was hardly any different. His injuries, however, had already begun to heal. The maid, he couldn't be quite so sure about. She hadn't died just yet, despite the multiple near-fatal blows he'd dealt her. That had to mean something.

Not wishing to waste another opportunity to find out the whereabouts of his master, Sebastian reached for Hannah's wrists. He quickly snatched them up and twisted the maid's arms behind her back before dropping down and settling himself on top of her legs. Hannah writhed underneath him, kicking and snarling, struggling to be released.

"I'm going to ask you one last time," Sebastian said calmly, once he'd caught his breath. "Where is my master, Ciel Phantomhive?"

Hannah gasped and snarled. "What makes you think I'm going to tell you?"

"I have my methods, Hannah, dear."

"Methods?" Hannah let out a sharp, cold laugh. "What methods? If you think you can threaten me, you, sir, are sadly mistake-"

Hannah's words fell short of completion. Something was pressing into the back of her neck, something that was even colder and sharper than the laugh she'd given just a moment earlier.

Sebastian smiled. "Ah. You know what this is, don't you?"

Dangling from Sebastian's hand, balanced carefully above Hannah's spine, was the very sword she'd been using against him.

Hannah's eyes widened. "H-How did you get that? I- I thought-"

"Ah, Hannah. You see, I am merely one hell of a butler." Sebastian pressed the strange sword against the maid's soft bronze skin. "I want to have my master back. And you are going to tell me where he is."

"Like hell I-" Hannah's venomous protest cut out into a loud, piercing shriek, shattering the remaining glass from the already broken window. The teal metal of the thorned blade was slowly digging into the soft flesh of her back.

"Where is Ciel?" Sebastian demanded.

Hannah never gave him an answer, only screamed even louder. Sebastian pulled the end of the blade out of her back and pushed her face down onto the floor to shut her up.

"Where is my master?" he asked again, his voice raised.

Hannah gasped for air, choking her words out one by one. "I- I'll never-"

Sebastian raised his arm once more and drove the end of the blade into Hannah's flesh once more. She shrieked and writhed under him, screaming for mercy.

"P-pleeeeEEEEASE STOP! PLEASE!"

Sebastian twisted the blade.

"NO! NO, PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T-"

The blade went further, grazing against Hannah's ribs.

"I"LL TELL YOU! PLEASE, I"LL TELL YOU! JUST STOP! STOP! I PROMISE!"

Sebastian tugged the blade out of Hannah's back. She gasped in response, tears streaming over her face. Blood was soaking into Hannah's dress and spilling out onto the floor.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "Where. Is. My. Master?"

"I- I can't really be sure," Hannah sobbed. "Master Trancy may have moved him at this point..."

 _So my suspicions had been correct._ "But where was he being taken in the first place?"

"T-the game room... I-it's on the second floor. Near the back of the estate."

"And what do you mean, Alois might have moved him?"

"He- He was talking about... if... if Ciel was good, he would show him... He'd take him to a secret passageway. The estate has loads of them. I don't know which one he meant, b-but..."

"You said he's been taken to the game room. Is there one in there?"

"Y-yes..."

"Where does it go?"

"It... it goes to the master's room... I-I think."

Sebastian dropped the sword in his hand, letting it clatter against the glass on the floor. His gaze searched over the room. His eyes fell upon one particularly large shard.

"Thank you," he said cordially, reaching for the piece of glass. "Now, I would reward you for your trouble, miss Hannah, but I'm afraid I can't risk you telling any others in the staff.

Hannah's opened her mouth to ask what he meant. She never got the chance. The glass shard buried itself into her skull before she had been able to utter a single word.

Sebastian got up from his kneeling position over Hannah's still, lifeless body. He wasn't sure exactly how long she would stay that way. Maybe the rest of eternity, maybe the next few minutes. He didn't have time to stand there and figure it out.

Sebastian spun on his heel and walked away. The game room was waiting.

* * *

In the darkness of the blindfold, Ciel heard a clicking latch.

A door creaked as it swung open. A pair of warm, delicate hands fastened themselves to his shoulders.

"Here, it's this way," Alois said, his voice spilling directly into Ciel's ear.

He tensed up for a second, nervous. "Wait. What if there are stairs? I'm going to fall."

"I'll tell you if there are stairs, Ciel." Alois gave his shoulders a gentle push. "Go on. I'll guide you."

Ciel took a tentative step forward. The ground was still solid and steady under his feet. He took another step forward, then another. Alois pushed his left shoulder, forcing him to turn slightly to the right. He kept walking, slowly, one step at a time. His hand brushed against a wooden doorframe.

"Are we in the hallway, Alois?"

"No."

"So what did I just walk through?"

"A door. Not the one you came through, though."

"But there weren't any-"

"Shhh." Alois kept pushing him forward. Ciel obeyed, walking blindly and letting his kidnapper steer him. He couldn't believe this. He didn't trust Alois in the least. He never had. Yet, here he was, with a blindfold over his eyes and letting Alois guide him through the dark like a-

The hands on Ciel's shoulders suddenly tightened. "Stop."

Ciel's shoes skidded on the floor and he stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

"Stairs."

Ciel's nerves suddenly turned into veins of ice. "Bloody hell..."

He raised his foot and swept it hesitantly in front of him. The end of his shoe collided with a hard wood surface. Yes, there were stairs. Not going down, thank heaven, but still...

"Alright, Ciel. I'm going to need you to do exactly as I say. Got it?"

Ciel glanced over his shoulder, his blinded eyes glaring at Alois. "I'm sorry. I have a choice?"

Alois sighed and pushed his head straight again. He pressed his fingertips into Ciel's shoulder blades. "Look, I could just let you figure it out on your own if I wanted to..."

"Cripes, Alois! It was just a joke! Learn how sarcasm works, you bloody-"

"Lift your foot up."

Ciel blinked behind the blindfold. "What?"

"Lift your foot up. Then put it forward, just a little bit."

Ciel did as he was told. he sensed that his foot was hovering just above something, hopefully something that wouldn't come crashing down under his weight and leave him stranded on the floor of a dungeon.

"Now put it down."

 _Creak._  Ciel's foot settled onto something hard and solid. An aged wooden stair.

Alois pushed him forward, leaning his weight onto his extended foot. "Alright. Now do it again, with the other foot."

Ciel did as he was told. He hit another stair.

"Do it again. Same foot as the first step. Again. And again. Good, you're doing fantastic. Now go again. Wait, skip over that one. That one's broken. Yes, just like that. Good. Now keep going..."

Step by step, Ciel was guided up the stairs. At one point he reached a flat landing. Alois pushed him around the corner and told him to keep lifting his feet. Ever so slowly, Ciel climbed towards... well, he didn't exactly know. But whatever it was, it couldn't be much worse than where he'd just been.

"Stop! Ciel, stop!"

Ciel froze, one foot hovering in mid-air.

"Now put your foot down. We're off the stairs. Just walk normally now."

He did as he was told, taking a few cautious steps forward. Yes, he was indeed on flat ground again. Alois's hands were still pressed against his shoulders, pushing him onward. Every now and again, one would push harder than the other, turning Ciel in a new direction. He didn't protest, didn't question Alois, just complied with whatever his hands told him to do. It wasn't as if he had a choice. Was it?

Suddenly, the warm, gentle pressure on Ciel's shoulders- Alois's hands- disappeared.

"Alois?" Ciel froze. He was blind. He couldn't move. "Alois, where'd you go?" He started reaching for the blindfold, clawing at the thick, heavy fabric over his eyes.

Something slapped his fingers away. Alois. "Stop it. We're not there yet. Just hold on for one bloody second, would you?"

Somewhere ahead of him, Ciel heard another door swinging open. A second later, Alois was back behind him, pushing him steadily forward. Ciel felt the edge of another doorway pass over his head. Then it disappeared. He heard a door clicking softly shut behind him.

"You can take off your blindfold now, if you like."

Ciel didn't even have to answer. His hands shot straight up to the thick layer of blinding fabric over his eyes. He began clawing at the edge, trying to peel it away from his face. He couldn't get his fingers under it. The bloody thing was tied too damn tight. His hands slid back behind his head, started picking relentlessly at the knot that Alois had tied. Eventually, after enough frantic scrabbling, the ends came apart. He ripped the blindfold away, threw it at the floor, rubbed his unpatched eye, then finally opened it to see-

Ciel blinked. He stared at the room before him, not sure what he had expected, but still quite sure that this wasn't it.

The room wasn't exactly large. It was a decent size, of course, but not excessively. Just big enough for a good deal of breathing room, but still small enough to feel safe and comfortable. The walls were the palest shade of lavender that Ciel had ever seen, the trim around the tall, elegant windows a bright white, the carpet a soft lilac color. Wintery gray curtains hung over the windows, partially blocking the darkened sky outside. There were a few dressers pushed up against the walls, a small table and a pair of matching chairs, a large, cushioned chaise lounge, and on one end of the room, covered by a freshly washed white sheet and a soft velvet comforter, was a bed.

"Alois," Ciel murmured slowly. "Where are we?"

The young earl smiled, sweeping an arm around in a grand showcasing gesture.

"Ciel Phantomhive, welcome to my room."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's what these two buggers have been up to.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really shouldn't be expecting that many reviews for a story as short as this one. Anyway, here you go. I hope you liked the last chapter. It always takes me ages to get anywhere when I write. I also had to listen to Birdy throughout this entire chapter too keep myself sane. I listened to No Angel on loop at least four hundred times. It's my first smut and it took really sad piano music to keep me from giggling the entire time. :L
> 
> So that's what was keeping me. Now enjoy.

* * *

 

 

Ciel blinked, looking around the room in circles. This was Alois Trancy's bedroom.

"Well?" He heard Alois say. He was standing behind him, leaning against the invisible door that had just swung shut behind them. "What do you think?"

"I..." Ciel swallowed. His head whipped around, looking in random directions and trying to take it all in. This was Alois Trancy's bedroom. This was his personal space, his inner sanctum, the place that he had all to himself unless he said otherwise. No one came here without an invitation. And apparently, Ciel had been given one. He'd been given one without even a second thought.

"Alois..." Ciel murmured unsteadily, turning around to face him. "Why are we here?"

The blonde earl smiled and straightened up. "Why are we here?" he said, repeating Ciel's own words back to him. He took a step towards Ciel, pale blue eyes locking onto dark. "That's such a funny question." He reached forward, tracing his fingers along Ciel's cheekbone and brushing a strand of hair behind his ear. "I really thought it would be obvious at this point."

Ciel's breath hitched, and a shiver ran down his spine. His eyes flickered around the room, first at the walls, then the chaise lounge, the dark windows, the bed, back to Alois's face and then all over again. "Wait... you mean you want to..." Ciel gasped, his gaze locking back onto his captor's face. "No. Alois, no. I- I can't-"

Alois blinked, as if Ciel's words didn't make sense. His pale face took on a look of concern. "Wait, no. Not if you aren't willing. I'm not going to force you to, Ciel. Please. It's only if you want to."

"Only if..." Ciel said quietly, mulling over the words. "Of course I'm going to believe that," he snapped, taking a step back. Alois's hand was torn away from his face.

"Ciel,"Alois whimpered, his hand still outstretched. He stared at the young earl, his eyes pleading. Ciel refused to move. Eventually his hand dropped. "Ciel, I thought..."

"You thought what?" Ciel hissed, his voice bitter. "You thought that I would be your whore? Just like you had said you would be mine? I thought I had explained this to you, Alois. That's not what I want. And it's not the only way you can get people to love you! I thought you'd-"

"Ciel, we've been through this already!" Alois shouted, cutting him off. Ciel fell silent, staring at the boy standing just a few feet away. Alois dropped his eyes to the floor and took a deep, shuddering breath. He wrapped his arms around himself and tightened them, as if he were trying to protect himself.

Ciel froze, caught between making a break for the door and taking a step closer. "Alois?"

"Ciel, there's something I should tell you."

"What is it?" Ciel still couldn't move. He wanted to leave. Kissing this prat was uncomfortable enough as it was. Alright, maybe it wasn't quite so uncomfortable as he would have liked to believe it was. But still, he didn't want to just... he couldn't let him...

The earl still hadn't spoken. Ciel finally decided to take a step forward. He breathed in and asked again. "Alois, what did you want to tell me?"

When Alois took another trembling breath, opened his mouth, shut it again, breathed a few more times and took a step back before finally deciding to say something. "It's about my past."

Ciel's heart stopped in the middle of its relentless racing and turned to stone.

"You see, Ciel," Alois said softly, keeping his eyes on the floor, "I'm not like you. I wasn't born rich. I had to do a lot of things to get where I am now. Horrible things." He paused, his head slowly starting to straighten up, as if he were ready to look Ciel in the eyes again, but then dropping forward again. "Look, I don't know how much you understood from what I said in the game room, but... But some of it must have gotten through to you somehow. You said you understood. And you sat there and let me kiss you and..." Alois stopped. His breath was starting to shake, coming and going in small, airy bursts.

Ciel took another step towards Alois. "And what?"

"And... I thought maybe you still did. And that... even though you don't feel the same, maybe..." Alois's words were choked, his voice straining to force them out. Suddenly, he looked up, meeting Ciel's eyes again. The corners of his eyes were red, tears on the verge of spilling over onto his face.

Alois's voice cut off. His breath was heavy and staggered, the tears in his eyes still resisting the gravitational pull towards the rest of his face. He stared at Ciel, his ice blue eyes wide and unblinking.

"A-and Ciel..." he choked, his voice so quiet and strangled that he was barely able to speak. "W-when I first heard about you... it wasn't quite love at first sight. I-I had never seen you in person until the ball, really. Only heard about you. You and all those extraordinary things you did. And I... I became a bit of a fan, r-really. A-and, of course, the admiration turned into... it turned into something else. And then at the ball, when I finally saw you, I..."

Alois had finally managed to get his voice back under control. The tears in his eyes had spilled over and run down his cheeks, but that was all. He reached up and wiped them away with his sleeve. "I wanted to do this because it was finally something I didn't have to do to stay alive. It was because I wanted to. And... And because I wanted to show you how I felt in the only way I know how."

Ciel sighed, tearing his gaze away from Alois. "So that was why you had wanted to-"

"Yes, but..." Alois stammered. "Ciel, I won't if you aren't willing to do it, too."

"Well what do you expect?" Ciel spun back around to face him. "Do you want me to just let you throw me down and start tearing my clothes off? I'm not going to, Alois. That's... going too far."

"Ciel, that's not what I had in mind at all. That's absolutely hideous," Alois said flatly.

"Really?" Ciel said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Then what? How else would this work?"

"Well, I... I was thinking it would start a little slower." Alois finally seemed to unwind again and came a step closer, closing the gap between him and Ciel. "We'd start off just like we did downstairs. Just kissing, nothing else. You were fine with that, weren't you?"

Ciel nodded, giving an inward shiver at the memory.  _I was more than fine with that._

"Then we'll go from there," the earl said softly, placing his hands on Ciel's arms and running them slowly up to his shoulders. "We'll just let things happen as they will, and I'll let you decide how far you want things to go. If you want me to stop, I will. I promise."

Ciel bit his lip, thinking for a moment, then nodded. "Alright," he murmured.

Alois's hands brushed back over Ciel's arms, traveling down until they reached his hands and fastened their fingers together. He gave the smaller boy a faint smile and tugged him gently over to the bed. "Come on, then."

A twinge of excitement quivered in the pit of Ciel's stomach. The second Alois's back was turned, he let slip a small smile of his own. Alois took a few steps backward, Ciel following and letting the other boy tow him along. He tried to fight back the strange, unexpected urge to throw himself at Alois, push him down onto the soft velvet and... and whatever came after that. Exactly what that was, though, he had no idea.

Alois reached the edge of the bed and turned, tugging on Ciel's right arm and spinning him towards the bed as well. Ciel stood at the edge, looking ever so slightly upwards at Alois, waiting. Threads of suspense were pulled taut across Ciel's thoughts. What was he going to do? Was he going to like it the way he liked whatever it was that he did before? Would this be painful? Exactly how far was he going to let him go? Would he stay true to his word, or turn traitor the second their clothes were off?

Alois stood in front of Ciel, that bright, elated look in his eyes that he had seen before. The blonde earl placed his hands on Ciel's shoulders and pushed him back ever so gently until his knees collided with the edge of the mattress. He fell backwards, landing softly on the bed.

Ciel's heart was beating with the force of a tidal wave against the shore. He watched, his blood pounding in his ears, as Alois turned to the side and sat down on the bed next to him, the mattress dipping softly under his weight. Alois fixed his eyes onto Ciel's, reached one hand up and brushed a strand of hair behind his ear. He leaned forward. Their lips met.

_BANG._

The feelings all went off inside Ciel at once, exploding deep in his core and extending outwards to the tips of his fingers and toes. He felt the frenetic thumping of his heart against his sternum, static filling his head and whirling around like snow in a blizzard, the hot, searing fire in his chest, the numbness already starting up and creeping slowly up his limbs. He pressed his lips forward against Alois's, felt the warm, trembling flesh pressed to his own. He felt as if he were dying, drowning, suffocating under the sensory overload, and yet at the same time, he had never felt more alive.

Ciel's eyes fell shut. He dug his fingers into the velvet comforter and crawled blindly forward, letting the soft, life-giving feeling of Alois's mouth lead him. Somewhere in the distance, Ciel heard the dull, leathery  _thump_  of shoes hitting the floor. Not entirely aware of what he was doing, Ciel dug the toe of one shoe into the heel of the other. He flicked incessantly at the worn piece of leather, but the blasted thing wouldn't come loose.  _Oh, right. They're bloody_ boots _._

For a second, his eyes flicked open and strained to look down at the floor. Alois had managed to flick his shoes off, hadn't he? Just a few feet away from the edge of the bed, a pair of boots were lying in a heap on the rug, their laces undone.

_He did all that and managed to keep kissing me this entire time? Bloody hell, he is one talented prat._

Ciel closed his eyes again and let out a faint squeak, pushing softly against Alois's chest. He felt the earl's soft lips break away from his, the soft rush of his breath whispering against his face.

"What is it?" Alois whispered.

Ciel opened his eyes and curled his legs up close, reaching towards the tops of his tightly-laced boots. He began hurriedly picking at the knots and tugging at the ends of the shoestring, trying to pry his feet loose. He tore the laces apart in a matter of seconds and kicked his shoes off, letting them clatter unceremoniously to the floor.

"Just that," he breathed, a faint pink blush rising to his cheeks. Not a second later, he'd leaned forward again and pressed their lips together once more.

The explosion of feeling returned. Ciel felt Alois's hands reach out towards him, running over his back, his shoulders, his neck, his delicate fingers running through his hair. He felt them catch on the strings of his eyepatch.

Ciel's breath hitched.  _Wait. What are you-_

The strings came loose, and the eyepatch was torn away before Ciel could even finish his thought.

Ciel's eyes flew open. He glanced sideways to see where his precious eyepatch had landed. Meanwhile Alois, who hadn't yet realized that he no longer had another boy attached to his lips, fell forward, now kissing empty space. He let out a small, surprised yelp before crashing face-first into Ciel's shoulder. He drew back, blinking his wide blue eyes before fixing them on Ciel. "What is it now?"

"Where's my-" Ciel mumbled, his eyes sweeping over the floor. Suddenly, he froze. There it was. The tiny piece of fabric and string was lying limply on the floor right beside the pile of his shoes.

_Well, at least it's not lost._

A soft laugh filled the space just beside Ciel's ear. He turned to see Alois's face just inches from his, his cheeks flushed pink, one hand placed coyly over his smiling mouth.

"Are you going to do this every time I take something off of you?" he asked, stifling a giggle.

Ciel smiled back at him before reaching up and swatting his hand away from his face. "Twat."

Both of them surged forward, their mouths colliding in the middle.

A fire was roaring in the pit of Ciel's chest. He inched forward on his knees, slowly pressing himself closer and closer to Alois. His arms reached forward of their own accord, fastening themselves around the boy in front of him, his hands running over his back, neck and shoulders, his fingers tangling into the softness of his hair. Ciel's mouth fell open on top of Alois's, his tongue slipping forward past his parted lips and finding its opponent on the other side waiting to push back. Their tongues began quarreling again, twisting around and pushing up against each other, each trying to fight its way into the other's mouth.

Suddenly Alois's tongue flattened out, barricading Ciel out of his mouth. The earl's lips pulled away from his, only to reappear a second later pressed to the soft, sensitive skin at the edge of Ciel's jaw. Hie eyes flew open, his heart pounding in confusion. It quickly melted away into a dizzy, delirious ecstasy. Alois moved his mouth along the line of Ciel's jaw, then back, then down the delicate curve of his neck, kissing every inch of skin his lips could find, taking special attention to the spot where a vein throbbed just beneath Ciel's skin, pulsing with every beat of his frantic heart. Ciel's eyes rolled back and fell closed again. He pressed the young lord's head closer, his mouth pushed up against his skin. His let out a long, heavy sigh, then emitted the same strange whimpering noise that he had before. He felt a strange tingling sensation starting up in his stomach, as if an entire flock of butterflies had landed on top of him at once. His heart felt as though it were overfilled with blood, pounding so hard and fast that it would burst.

Ciel angled his head down, nestling Alois's head under his chin. His cheek pressed against his pale hair, the faint smell of lavender flooding his senses. The warm, slimy feeling of Alois's tongue dragged upwards along his neck and towards his ear. Ciel shuddered. He was licking him. This psychotic prat was licking him like a cat licking its fur. His tongue was so slimy, his breath hot against his skin, his teeth grazing against his neck, silently threatening to bite down and sink into his flesh... it was the most disgusting thing he'd ever felt. If Alois had warned him before that this was where things would be going, he would never have agreed to this nonsense in the first place. And yet...

And yet he couldn't resist it.

Alois's tongue traced the outline Ciel's ear, his teeth tugging playfully at the dark blue stud pierced through it. Ciel dug the fingernails of one hand into the comforter, the other into the back of Alois's vest.

_His vest? Wasn't he wearing a-_

Ciel's eyes fluttered open a crack. There it was, just a violet smudge at the corner of his vision. Alois had already taken his jacket off, leaving it sprawled limply on the bed. The young earl nipped at the cartilage of Ciel's ear. His eyes squeezed shut again. He felt the strange flutter in his stomach building up, rising into his chest and threatening to explode. He didn't know what it was. He'd never felt anything like it before. It was so odd, so frightening and perplexing and mysterious and at the same time amazing and exhilarating and fantastic. It was quite possibly the worst and the best thing he had ever felt. The fluttering grew stronger, pressing up against his the confines of his ribcage. Alois had his hands all over him, running up and down over his back, his shoulders, along his neck and through his hair. Ciel's head tilted back and his mouth fell open. A stifled moan slipped out before he could stop it.

He felt Alois's lips move against his ear, pulling taut in the slightest upward curve. He was smiling.

Ciel's breath hitched, cutting his cry short. He forced his eyes open.  _So that's what you wanted, was it?_

Alois pulled his lips slowly away from Ciel's ear. He brought his face back in front of Ciel's, the smallest gap of empty space between them. His eyes opened, and Ciel found himself trapped, dark blue eyes locked onto pale. The taller boy brought his hands up towards Ciel's shoulders and locked his arms around the back of his neck. His lips moved. Ciel heard the faintest whisper, felt his breath brush against his face, but couldn't understand a word.

"What?" he heard himself murmur.

A smile played at Alois's flushed pink lips. "Your turn," he said softly.

Ciel felt the blush in his cheeks starting to deepen.  _Is he bloody serious?_

Sitting patiently while Alois did what he wanted was one thing. But he never expected this.

He'd never done this before. He had no idea where to start. What if he did it wrong? Would Alois be upset? He'd been relatively kind so far. What if he didn't like what Ciel was doing and suddenly turned cruel? He wouldn't let him be in control any longer. He would hold him down, force him to submit-

Ciel's hands were starting to shake. A painful palpitation echoed in his chest. He couldn't do it. No matter how he tried, somehow he just knew that he couldn't.

A twinge of concern flickered across Alois's flushed face. "Ciel?"

Ciel didn't answer. His throat was so tight that he couldn't force the words out. His hands were trembling uncontrollably, his limbs suddenly heavy and stiff like sculpted stone. Alois gazed at him, his face still unbearably close. He pressed the palm of his hand against Ciel's shuddering chest. A shiver crawled its way up Ciel's spine. He could feel how fast his heart was beating. He knew how his nerves were twisted into knots, how his mind reeled in fear of what might happen.

Alois leaned in, resting his forehead comfortingly against Ciel's. "Nervous, are you?"

Ciel nodded weakly.

"It's alright," Alois whispered. "Do whatever you think is right. I'm not expecting anything. Just let it happen." He brushed his cool fingers against Ciel's hot, reddened cheek. The dark-haired boy's eyes fell closed. Alois's words echoed in his head.  _Just let it happen. Just let it happen._

And that is exactly what Ciel was determined to do. He fell forward, pressing his mouth hard against his captor's.

They fell back into the pattern from before, their lips pressed tightly together, their tongues fighting to conquer each other's mouths. All the while Ciel felt as though he were on fire, his pulsing heart sending blood rushing to the surface of his skin.

Ciel fell back for a moment to take a breath. He dug around in his memory, trying to remember exactly how this had gone when Alois had been the one doing it. He'd gone for his neck, then his ear, then went back to his mouth. The feeling had driven him insane.

 _Maybe it can do the same for him_ , Ciel thought as he brought his mouth down past Alois's lips.

Ciel tightened his fingers on the fabric of Alois's shirt. He slowly leaned forward, his mouth tentatively approaching the smooth, moon-pale surface of Alois's skin. As if by some unspoken signal, the boy tilted his head back and exposed his throat. Ciel braced himself and fell forward, his lips pressing a fevered kiss onto Alois's skin. He heard a soft, airy sigh just above his head.  _It must be working._

Ciel started working at Alois's neck, kissing every inch of exposed skin that he could find. Every now and again he heard a quiet gasp or whisper of a moan coming from the boy above him. It set something off inside Ciel, something that wanted to draw out even more of those noises, push Alois further and further until he was thrown over the edge. He began kissing harder and harder, putting more force and passion into every movement of his lips. He would occasionally open his mouth and graze his tongue or teeth against Alois's skin. At some point in the midst of it all, Ciel himself had started panting, blasts of his breath brushing against his captor's neck.

Ciel's mind started to wander. What was he supposed to do next? He couldn't attack Alois's ear the way that he did. He would surely think that his captive was simply imitating him. A thought struck Ciel in between kisses. Instead of working his way up towards Alois's ear, he began to lead his trail of kisses down. He traveled slowly, going further and further until he reached the very edge of the blonde boy's shirt collar. But the strange feeling that had seeped into Ciel's mind told him that this wasn't enough. This wouldn't drive Alois into madness. And he had a fairly clear idea of what would.

Without a second thought, Ciel reached for the tie around Alois's neck and tore it away.

The clean white collar of the young earl's shirt fell open. Ciel attacked, pressing his lips to every inch of skin he could find, nuzzling against the smooth softness of his neck, nipping at his collarbones, all the while breathing in that faint, beautiful lavender smell. He leaned forward, pressing himself up against Alois, pushing harder and harder until he fell back and sank into the soft velvet bedspread. Ciel continued to mercilessly kiss him, not stopping until he had mapped out the entire area under his lips. Ciel began to work his way back up towards his neck. His lips passed over a certain spot, a small line that throbbed just beneath Alois's pale skin. A vein. Ciel brushed his tongue over it. He felt a frantic pulse beating against it. A satisfied smile crept onto his face. It was his heart that was beating so fast.

Ciel barely even felt the cool, delicate hand press down the back of his neck.

His eyes flew open. He blinked, not sure if what he had just felt meant anything or not. The hand pressed down again, pushing him ever so gently forward. Ciel's gaze flickered up towards Alois. The pale boy was lying on his back, his porcelain skin blushing bright pink, his chest heaving with every breath. His eyes were closed, his eyelashes fluttering with the restless movement of his eyes.

Ciel felt his hand push him forward again, grazing his mouth against the vein in Alois's neck. Suddenly he understood. It was a challenge.

_Bite me, Ciel. I dare you._

Slowly, Ciel lowered his mouth to Alois's pale, vulnerable neck. He parted his lips and ran his tongue across, trying again to find that single vein pulsing just below his skin. He opened his mouth, just a little further, and tentatively grazed his teeth against the young earl's throat. Ciel steeled himself, then wrenched his jaws apart and sank his teeth into Alois's flesh.

Alois threw his head back and let out a loud, breathy cry. Ciel felt his fingers tightening on the fabric of his jacket. His breath was coming in gasps, the pulse under Ciel's lips growing faster with every passing second. He bit down, his teeth sinking further. Alois moaned again, his nails raking over Ciel's back and pulling at his jacket. A vicious smile crossed Ciel's face.  _So that's how you like it, is it?_

His teeth continued to dig into Alois's soft, pulsing flesh. The blonde earl continued to make all manners of strange, breathy sounds, whispering something that sounded like Ciel's name over and over again. All the while his fingers scratched at Ciel's back and pulled at his jacket. The dark earl smiled again. He tightened his jaws, digging deeper into Alois's neck. Suddenly the noises began to quiet down. The unintelligible whispers stopped. Now Alois was definitely saying his name.

"C-Ciel..."

Ciel ignored the whispers. He bit down even harder.

"Ciel?"

Something popped under Ciel's teeth. A hot, metallic taste flooded into his mouth.

"Ciel!"

The earl Phantomhive drew back, grinning. Alois stared up at him, his eyes wide and confused. Alois's neck, in the exact spot where Ciel's mouth had been just seconds earlier, was marred by a red-violet bruise. Blood was welling up from a small set of puncture wounds at the edge.

Ciel glared at him. "That was for kidnapping me."

Alois rolled his eyes and sat up. "That was uncalled for. That's what that was." Without warning, his hands surged forward and buried themselves under Ciel's jacket. With one fluid motion, Alois stripped it away and threw it over the edge of the bed. He returned Ciel's malicious smile. "That was for drawing blood, which, for your information, you aren't supposed to do, you inexperienced prat."

Ciel didn't answer, only smiled and wiped a faint smear of blood away from his mouth. Alois sighed, his eyes looking deadened. For a moment, Ciel actually thought he had given up.

That was before Alois surged forward and crushed his body against Ciel's.

Their lips crashed together and melted into one another. A split second later, Ciel felt the fair boy's tongue once again fighting its way into his mouth. Ciel didn't respond, only stayed kneeling on the bed and tried to stay upright against the ever-insistent push of Alois's weight against him. The boy's hands were clawing at his back, tugging at his vest, silently begging him to take it off. He complied, sliding his hands in between their tightly compacted bodies to unfasten the buttons at the front. Before he'd even gotten halfway down, he felt clawed fingers running over his shoulders and tracing their way down his arms. He felt Alois's cool, slender hands brush their fingertips over his wrists and intertwine with his. His vest fell slack over his shoulders as Alois violently wrenched his hands away from the buttons. Ciel opened his eyes for a moment, confused. Alois had wanted it off just a moment earlier. So what was...

All of a sudden, Ciel felt his hands being tugged forward, sliding over Alois's body and finally ending up pressed firmly against his hips. He tightened his fingers around the silky fabric of his shorts. Alois had his hands pressed against Ciel's chest, fumbling blindly with the buttons of his vest, trying to finish what Ciel had started. A moment later, the vest came loose, falling back and draping around Ciel's arms like a shawl. He quickly pulled his hands away from Alois's hips to shake free of the undone garment. It fell in a pile of crumpled fabric on the bed. Once it was gone, Ciel's hands went straight back to the other boy's hips.

Alois's hands had stayed where they were, never relocating from Ciel's chest. He felt a faint scratching at the edge of his collarbone. A second later it stopped, then started again a little ways downward. It took Ciel a moment to realize that the young earl was undoing the buttons of his shirt.

He grinned against Alois's mouth.  _Two can play at that game._

Ciel slid his hands around from Alois's hips and started pulling at the spotless white fabric of his shirt, tearing it loose from the waistband of his shorts. Once that had been finished, Ciel began to pick at the small satin-covered buttons that lined the front of his vest. It was difficult to keep his hands controlled with Alois pressed so tightly against him, or to see what he was doing when he had the boy's tongue in his mouth. Finally the last few buttons came undone in his hands. Ciel quickly grasped the thing by its shoulder straps and tore it away, flinging it across the room and letting it hit the floor on the other side.

Alois was pressing even harder now. Ciel's spine was straining to stay upright. He couldn't hold still much longer. But he couldn't let Alois shove him down, either. That was an invitation. And he was only doing this out of whatever kindness happened to be in his heart. He didn't really want Alois to take him like a newlywed bride. Of course not. Not in the slightest...

Alois's hand slid up under Ciel's shirt and grazed its nails tantalizingly over his skin.

Ciel's stomach turned into slush. He fell backwards and crashed into the pillows.

Before he knew it, Alois was on top of him. His lips pressed hungrily against Ciel's, his tongue darting around his mouth. Another moan was building up in Ciel's chest. He tried to hold it back, but it slipped out all the same. He found himself clawing at Alois's back, then his hips, then sliding further down, grabbing at his smooth, slender legs, the small gap of exposed skin between the hem of his shorts and his socks. He dug his fingers into the pale, creamy flesh.

_Never realized what nice legs you have, Trancy._

Soon they were tearing at each other's clothes again. Alois's socks were the first thing to go.

The both of them were lying entangled on the bed, Ciel stripped of everything except his shorts, Alois wearing only his unbuttoned shirt, which hung limp and useless over his shoulders. Every inch of Ciel's skin was flushed bright red. He stared at Alois's exposed body. He'd never seen him like this before. In fact, for a long time he'd hoped he never would. But here he was. He'd never realized how lithe and graceful the young earl was, or how his skin was so pale, smooth and perfect, how his bright, shining eyes and flushed, rosy face seemed to awaken something in him that he hadn't known was asleep in the first place.

Ciel let out a soft, whispering breath.  _No wonder you were a whore. You're bloody gorgeous._

Alois fell forward, his pale, graceful body sliding luxuriously over Ciel's like an angel's feathers brushing his skin. His mouth was pressing itself into him over and over again, his lips mapping out every detail of his face, his neck, his throat and chest and ribs and...

A thought drifted to the surface of Ciel's mind in the dizzying midst of Alois's kisses. His mouth was moving steadily lower.

Ciel felt a tug at the waist of his shorts. He felt as though he couldn't move. What was Alois doing? What was going on? Why was he moving lower like that? Blood was pounding in his ears, the sound of his fast, feverish breathing drowning out the rest of the world. He craned his aching neck to look down at his exposed body, his body that should have been pasty and pale had Alois not caused his blood to come rushing to the surface. The young earl had his head hovering over Ciel's hips, his body lying directly between his legs, forcing them apart. And his shorts...

_What? When did that get there? How long has it been like that?_

Something was holding them up. Ciel had a fair idea of what it was. He couldn't be quite sure why, though. Alois pulled at the waistband again, staring malevolently down at the straining fabric. He grinned and ran a finger over the top hem of Ciel's shorts until he found the artfully hidden row of hook-and-eye fasteners that held them closed.

Ciel gasped, trying to control himself. "Alois... Alois, what-"

With one quick, fluid motion, the Trancy heir had flicked every last fastener open and torn the shorts away. Ciel found himself staring down at his own body, now stripped completely naked.

_I thought that was what had been making a tent out of my pants._

For a moment, both of them were still, staring at Ciel's bare, unprotected body. Suddenly, Alois slouched forward, drawing his mouth close to his captive's-

"Alois, what in the name of god are you doing?"

The pale boy straightened up for a second. He flashed Ceil a dizzy smile. "Don't worry. You're going to love this."

With that, he went down again and took Ciel into his mouth.

"A-Alo...is..."

Ciel gasped. Suddenly the world around him was starting to fade, the fireworks inside him going off all over again, his head starting to spin, his thoughts dissipating into static. He arched his back and dug his fingernails into the velvet bedspread, letting out a loud, breathy moan in the process. He felt Alois's lips sliding over him, his tongue running over his soft, sensitive skin. Ciel's mouth wrenched open into another keening cry. Blurry spots danced in front of his eyes before they rolled back into his head and his eyelids fluttered shut. He was breathing so fast that he had to wonder whether it was Alois's mouth or a lack of oxygen that was making him dizzy. His toes curled up and tightened around the velvet underneath him. A spasm jolted through his nerves and his hips bucked forward on their own. He felt a hand on his thigh, pressing gently down. Alois was trying to hold him in place.

_It's not like I'm trying to hit you in the face, Alois. It's your own bloody fault for putting your mouth on me._

Another cry tore itself free from Ciel's lungs. He writhed in place, his chest heaving. Chemicals were coursing through his veins, rushing so intoxicatingly fast that he could feel it. He moaned and convulsed as if he were in the throes of death, his fingers tearing at the velvet underneath him, his hips fighting not to thrust upwards again and smack Alois in the face. He still had him in his mouth. He refused to move. Ciel didn't know what he was waiting for. He'd already worn him down to a tender, pulsing bundle of nerves, every touch drawing some kind of noise out of him, every movement setting off another explosion inside of him. He took in a gasping breath and let it out in another moan.

"A-Alois..." he whispered, his words barely even comprehensible anymore. "Oh... oh, god... Alois...Alois... AH!"

A bolt of lightning seemed to have pierced through Ciel's chest. Suddenly the world around him had stopped, and at the same time everything inside of him was moving at an accelerated speed, so fast he felt he would lose his mind. He clawed at the bedspread, unable to breathe, his eyes squeezed shut. His moans were growing louder and louder, building up until he was practically shrieking. He writhed helplessly on his back, screaming Alois's name over and over, not even knowing why...

Somewhere in the distance, he thought he heard a faint splattering noise.

Gradually, Ciel's heart began to slow down. He gasped for air, trying to bring his starving brain back to its senses. His eyes fluttered open. The world slid slowly back into focus.

Ciel blinked, his eyes feeling numb and heavy. For some reason, he was suddenly exhausted, as if all that uncontrollable convulsing and moaning had spent every last bit of energy in his system. He didn't move, simply lying in place for a while, waiting for the static in his head to subside. Alois was still between his legs. He wondered what he was still doing there.

As if to answer that question, he saw Alois straighten up again in front of him. His eyes were dreamy, his body flushed almost as red as Ciel's. There was some kind of sticky white substance smeared over his mouth. He stuck out his tongue and lapped up whatever he could reach, then wiped the rest away with the back of his hand. He looked down at Ciel and flashed a victorious smile.

_Hold on. Is that-_

_Bloody hell. Not only does he suck, he swallows too._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. So that happened.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER. FINALLY IT'S OVER.
> 
> I want to take a moment to remind you that I have an ask blog on Tumblr. asking-appelia. Go look at it.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the first smut I ever wrote. I giggled half the time and could not take myself seriously through any of it. But I hope at least you thought it was good. And if you didn't, I don't blame you.
> 
> You made it this far, so now I'm going to let you finish.

* * *

 

 

The white-hot static blazing in Ciel's head finally began to calm down.

For a long time, he didn't move. Ciel simply lay still on the bed, feeling as though every ounce of energy in his body had been drained. A dull flutter danced in his core. The faint feeling of fireworks going off at the ends of his nerves was still there. His chest was heaving, his heart pulsing painfully inside and his breath coming in fast, heavy bursts. He watched as Alois crawled up next to him and laid down beside him on the bedspread, his pale, graceful body looking almost like white gold in the soft candlelight. His eyes locked onto Ciel's, gazing at him as if they were two lovers sitting at a cafe table for their afternoon tea.

It took a while for what had just happened to sink in.

"Did I just... lose my virginity?"

Ciel heard a soft laugh beside him. "No. Not quite."

He rolled over on his side to face Alois. "Then... what the hell was that?"

The boy flashed him another victory smile. "Foreplay, actually. We didn't even go as far as I thought we would. I'd been hoping we could actually, well..."

"So why did you stop?"

His mischievous smile seemed to grow even brighter. "I could tell you'd had enough. That's why."

Ciel sighed, shifting tiredly on the bedspread. "And before, that... that stuff... did you actually swallow it?"

"Yes," Alois said, a touch of laughter in his voice.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"I've had to do it for worse than you, Ciel." The boy reached forward and swept a lock of dark, sweat-soaked hair behind his ear. "I told you that you would like it."

Ciel let out a soft, airy laugh. "You did."

"Well? Was I right?"

A hot, shameful blush blazed over Ciel's face. He didn't know why he had agreed to this. More than that, he didn't know why he'd let Alois go as far as he did. He'd wanted to go even further. Ciel didn't know what he would have done if he'd tried any more. He already felt like a lifeless doll. He'd never done anything like this in his life, much less with a boy. He couldn't bring himself to think of what Elizabeth would say if she ever found out. It was scandalous. Detestable. Disgusting. It was...

"No," he murmured. He let out a breathless laugh. "I loved it."

Another smile pulled at Alois's lips. He leaned his head in close to Ciel's, closer until their foreheads were pressed together. The boy's lips were drawing dangerously near to his.

Ciel's hand quickly slipped between Alois's mouth and his. "No."

He felt Alois pouting dejectedly against his fingers. He stared up at him with his desperate blue eyes. Ciel laughed. "Your mouth is filthy."

Alois reached up and swatted Ciel's hand away from his face. He was smiling. "I see how it is."

"So? Are you going to do something about it?"

The fair-haired boy sighed before pushing himself upright and rolling sideways over the edge of the bed. Ciel heard his feet hit the floor with a soft  _thump_ , then his quiet footsteps crossing the room towards where a porcelain basin and silver pitcher sat atop a small hand-carved tables wedged into a corner by the window. With more effort than he had expected it to take, Ciel pushed himself upright and watched Alois as he picked up a small linen cloth from the table, poured out some flowery-scented water from the pitcher and began cleaning his mouth out as Ciel had asked.

Ciel looked around the velvet expanse around him. There were random bits and pieces of clothing scattered around, some kicked up against the footboard, some dangling over the edge. He sat up and looked around. Most of their clothes were on the floor. He glanced back up at Alois. The earl was still at the small table, still clearing Ciel's taste out of his mouth. Before he turned around, Ciel leaned over the edge of the bed and snatched his shorts up from the floor. He managed to tug them on before Alois turned back towards him. Their eyes met just as Ciel had snapped the last fastener shut.

Alois sighed and narrowed his eyes, his hands on his narrow hips. "Really, Ceil?"

The young lord only smirked and leaned back into the pillows, staring at Alois the entire time. He watched as his fair kidnapper made his way back to the bed. He stopped at the edge, leaning seductively against the bedpost. "Don't you trust me?" he asked innocently.

"No," Ciel replied with a grin.

Alois sighed again, then climbed onto the bed and crawled up next to Ciel. He dropped down beside him, his supple body looking almost as heavy and exhausted as Ciel's felt. His shirt was draped over him in loose shambles, covering just enough for Ciel not to feel the need to push him away. The taller boy inched closer, one delicate hand creeping towards his. Without thinking, Ciel reached out and tangled his fingers with his own.

Something flashed in Alois's eyes. Ciel had never seen anything like this come from him before. It seemed happy, hopeful, romantic, even, but at the same time it was the saddest thing he had ever seen. He couldn't figure out exactly what it was. But something told him that it was almost the same as when Alois had awoken that strange feeling inside him that he hadn't known existed.

The young earl pressed his body close to Ciel's, burying his face into the curve of his neck and nuzzling his soft platinum hair against his cheek. Ciel heard him let out a soft sigh. It sounded almost as sad as the look in his eyes that he'd seen before. He slid an arm around the earl's slender waist and held him close. He didn't know why. It just felt like the right thing to do. He heard Alois's breathing deepen in response. He must have been right.

Alois slipped his free arm over Ciel's shoulder and began digging under the pillows behind his head. The dark-haired boy glanced down at him. "Alois?" he murmured.

"Just trying to find the edge of the blanket," he answered into Ciel's shoulder. "It's bloody freezing in here."

Ciel untangled his hand from Alois's and began digging around under the endless layers of pillows until his fingers found purchase on a soft, flexible edge. He pulled at it until the bedspread began to unmake itself. Alois grabbed hold of the sheet and pushed it down until it was far enough for the both of them to crawl underneath. Once they had gotten their feet covered, they pulled the blankets up around their shoulders, shutting out the cold air in the room.

"Ciel?"

The young earl glanced over at the pale boy next to him. "What is it?"

He was still gazing at him in that strange,wistful way that he had all night. "Would you mind..."

"Mind what?" Ciel asked, his eyes locking with Alois's.

The boy dropped his gaze. "N-no, never mind," he murmured. "It was silly, anyway. You've done enough. I shouldn't be-"

"Just let me know what it was," Ciel said. His voice sounded softer than it normally did. "Then I'll tell you whether it was silly or not."

"Well... I just..." Alois stammered, then trailed off. He crawled a few inches closer, bringing his face in close to Ciel's. Their bodies were almost pressed together as they had been only moments earlier. One of Alois's hands was reaching tentatively towards Ciel's face. He graced his cheek with his fingertips, his breath coming slow and soft, as if he wanted something but was afraid to ask.

Ciel knew exactly what that something was.

Without a second thought, Ciel slid his arms around Alois and pulled him close, pressing his head against his chest and resting his cheek on top of his head. "Of course."

A second later, Alois seemed to melt against him. He wound his arms around Ciel, holding his body against himself, hiding his face in his shoulder. "Thanks," he whispered.

Ciel smiled to himself.  _So he's a cuddler. That's so... cute._

"Hey, Ciel?"

He ran his hand over Alois's soft hair. "Yes?"

"Why did you do all this? I mean, all that stuff we did... why did you let me?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't let me go until I did," Ciel murmured into his hair.

"Was that it?"

"No."

"Then... what else?"

"I..." Ciel's thoughts fell short. He searched his mind for another logical reason. Oddly enough, he couldn't find one. At least not one he was about to admit. "Honestly, Alois, I don't really know."

"Hm." Alois shifted, tightening his arms around Ciel and cuddling himself closer.

"Alois?"

"Mhmm?"

"How long have you... felt things for me?"

Ciel heard him take a deep breath, his heart beating against his own. "I'm not sure. A few months, I think. Maybe longer."

"Really?"

"I said I'm not sure."

"You know I'm engaged, don't you?"

He shifted again. "Yes."

"And you still..."

"It's not exactly something that can be helped, Ciel."

Ciel sighed. "I never said it was."

He wasn't entirely sure how long they were lying there, nestled in the blankets, Alois's body held close against his own. It could have been anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours. Ciel didn't see a point in trying to figure it out. All that mattered was that he was here. He was still alive, he hadn't been violated- well, maybe he had, but at least it hadn't exactly been against his will. He had quite possibly the most beautiful person he'd ever seen in his life lying next to him, their limbs tangled together, their hearts beating together, keeping each other warm in this small safe haven against the chill of the world outside-

What the hell was he thinking?

"...Ciel..."

Ciel barely noticed the small murmur that drifted up from the boy beside him. "Yes?" he whispered.

He heard Alois take a deep breath before he spoke again. His whispers were so faint they barely made any sense.

"Ciel... I... I lo..."

"Alois?"

Ciel glanced down at the young earl. His arms were wound tightly around him, his head resting on his chest, his breath whispering against his skin. His eyes were closed, his dark, heavy lashes fluttering softly every so often. Ciel realized that he'd fallen asleep.

Ciel took a deep breath and gazed down at Alois. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. And so innocent. It was almost as if he weren't the terrible person that Ciel knew he could be. Not really.

Without thinking, he bent his head down and placed a soft kiss on his forehead.

Ciel leaned his head against the pillows, the faint scent of lavender drifting in the air all around him. His mind was starting to wander. His eyes were beginning to feel heavy. He let them fall closed.

Soon he'd drifted off as well.

 

* * *

 

"Young master."

Ciel didn't know where the voice was coming from. He didn't know where he was, or how he'd gotten there, for that matter. He couldn't be bothered to open his eyes. Everything was dark. Dark and soft. Warm, too. So warm.

"Wake up, young master."

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It gave him a gentle shake.

"Hnnn..."

Ciel let out a stifled whine of protest before taking a deep breath and prying his eyes open a slit. The world around him was almost as dark as when his eyes had been closed. He felt something nestled up against him. It was warm and solid. It gave a soft shudder. Ciel felt air flutter against his shoulder. The thing was breathing. It was alive.

 _Alois_ , Ciel suddenly thought.

Ciel's eyes flew open. He gasped and jolted awake. He was in a bedroom. Alois's bedroom. There was no light except for the dull golden glow of a few candles scattered throughout the room. A tall, graceful shadow stood over him at the edge of the bed. Two small glowing embers of red were in the place where its eyes would be. The hand on Ciel's shoulder was covered with a spotless white glove. The stranger leaned into the candlelight. "Are you alright, young master?" it asked.

It was Sebastian.

Ciel craned his neck to look down at himself. He was still completely naked, except for his shorts. Alois was still draped in that oversized shirt of his. The fair earl's arms were wound tightly around Ciel's waist, his head resting on his shoulder. The smell of lavender was still drifting through the air.

"Hm," Ciel mumbled, blinking in the candlelight. "Se...Sebastian... how did you find me?"

In the darkness, his butler smiled. "A Phantomhive butler who can't do something so simple as tracking his lost master down isn't worth his salt," he said.

"What the bloody hell hap..." Ciel began. He wasn't able to finish. He knew perfectly well what had happened. The memory of Alois burned bright in his mind. He could still feel his mouth, his body between his legs, the fireworks and electricity and everything else down to the last humiliating detail. Ceil shut his mouth and quickly rephrased his question. "How long have I been here?"

"A few hours," Sebastian answered, removing his hand from Ciel's shoulder. "Nearing six, I believe. You've been gone for quite a while. And you've been..." He glanced down at Ciel's almost naked body and Alois's snuggled up against his. "...having fun, I gather?"

A bright red blush burned in Ciel's cheeks. "Please don't tell Elizabeth," he murmured.

Sebastian nodded. "Of course not."

"Or the rest of the staff."

"I won't even bring up the subject."

"Just... please don't tell anyone."

Sebastian gave him another serene smile. "Not a soul will hear, young master."

Ciel sighed, lifting a free hand to his forehead and pressing his fingertips to his temples. How had this even happened? Why did it happen? More than anything, why did he let it happen? Why did he let Alois-

"We must be leaving soon, young master. The rest of the staff are at the estate. They will come looking for us if we do not alert them of your return."

Ciel found himself blinking in disbelief. He stared up at Sebastian, then down at Alois, then back. The boy's arms were still locked around Ciel's body, their legs tangled together, his head still resting on his chest. "L-leaving?" Ciel choked. "Now?"

"Yes," Sebastian said calmly. "As soon as you're properly dressed, of course." Ciel glanced around. The random articles of clothing that he and Alois had left scattered all over the bed and surrounding floor were gone. Sebastian nodded towards the table in the corner. Every piece had been picked up and meticulously folded. Ciel sighed.  _Of course you did, Sebastian._

He shifted gently on the pillows, careful not to wake the young earl who still clung to him like a frightened cat in his sleep. He looked back up at Sebastian. He could feel the desperate expression taking hold of his face. "S-Sebastian, I..."

His butler turned away from the folded piles of clothing and looked back at him. "What is it?"

"Sebastian, I can't." He kept his eyes locked on his butler. His sealed eye was beginning to glow of its own accord. He could feel it. "I can't go. Not with..." He cut himself off and nodded down at the sleeping boy next to him. "You know."

"But master..." Sebastian began, but his words trailed away into silence. For a moment, he stared at his master, as if he didn't understand. Then something sparked in his eyes, as if someone had reignited the glowing red embers. A knowing smile spread across his face. "Oh. I see."

"What?" Ciel murmured.

"Nothing." He thought he heard a soft, lilting laugh muffled by a white silk glove.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes, master?"

"Would you mind staying for a while longer? And... And can you keep the others away from here?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yes, my lord," he said before turning away and fading into the flickering shadows by the door. Ciel could feel that smug smile of his lingering on his face.

He dropped his gaze back to Alois. He hadn't moved since he'd woken up. His breathing was still soft and steady. Ciel couldn't help letting slip a faint smile. He was still asleep.

Ever so slowly, Ciel inched his way back under the covers and tugged them up to Alois's neck. He couldn't resist placing his hand on his head and running his fingers through his pale, silky hair. He took a deep breath, then gathered Alois against him, letting his head loll back into its resting place on his chest. Ciel let his eyes fall closed, losing himself in the steady rhythm of Alois's breath and the feeling of his warmth nestled against his own.

He couldn't stay for very much longer. But at least he could for now.

 

* * *

 

By the time Alois Trancy woke up, Ciel Phantomhive was gone.

His eyes fluttered open to see sunlight streaming in through the windows. The room felt oddly cold. So did the sliver of space between the sheets of his bed. And it felt empty. So very empty.

Alois sighed. Strange. It felt as though only moments ago Ciel had been here.

Alois pushed himself upright. He looked down at the velvet bedspread around him. Everything was crumpled and unmade. Alois couldn't stop the proud smile that crept onto his face. He knew exactly how it had gotten that way.

Somewhere at the other end of the room, the hinges of his door squeaked as they swung open.

"Ah. Good morning, your highness. I see you're already awake."

Alois kept his dizzy gaze fixed on the velvet. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, drawing his knees into his chest. Loose fabric slipped over his skin. He was still wearing the shirt that Ciel had unbuttoned.

"I had the loveliest dream last night, Claude."

The curtains were drawn back, and sunlight came blazing in. "Really?"

"Of course."

Claude turned away from the curtain and took in the scene before him. "I'm assuming you got what you wanted from master Phantomhive?"

Alois stifled a giggle. He couldn't make himself say it.

Claude smiled. "I'll take that as a yes." With that, he turned away and made his way back to the door. "I shall return momentarily with your tea, your highness." The door swung shut.

Another shiver ran down Alois's back. He felt a flutter building up in his chest. He threw himself back into the pillows and laughed.

He'd had a lovely dream. That was what he'd told Claude. And that was all it really was. A dream. Just a dream, a hopeless little crush that he knew would never be fulfilled. Ciel would forget about him tomorrow. Or he would try to, at the very least. But Alois would remember. He would know. He would know of everything that had happened between them.

He barely even noticed when his bedroom door swung open.

"Your highness?"

Alois sat up and pushed his hair out of his face. "What is it?"

Claude stood in the doorway, a slip of paper sitting on the silver tray in his hands beside his tea. "You've received a letter," he said. "It's from Ciel Phantomhive."

A jolt of surprise flashed in his heart. "What does it say?"

"It concerns the invitation you gave him a few days ago. He's... Well, he's accepted it."

This time, Alois didn't even bother to hide his smile.

Victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bye.


End file.
